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Hard as it may be, Americans have begun to grow comfortable with the record-breaking inflation rates of the last year. From increasing grocery prices to “pain at the pump,” inflation affects everyone, so it’s important to be aware of how it’s trending. Read on below for an August 2022 inflation update with all the relevant statistics you need to know.
Most recent inflation data
As of August 3, the most recent inflation data available is for the 12-month period ending June 2022. In this period, the inflation rate was 9.1%, the highest it’s been in four decades, and nearly four times as much as it was for any individual year during the decade preceding COVID-19.
Was this predicted?
Due to the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, many economists predicted that inflation for this year would be unusually high, but did they know how severe it would be? Here are some predictions about this year’s inflation and consumer price index statistics:
The Dow Jones estimated that the inflation rate for this year would be 8.8%, which was close to the 9.1% we ended up seeing. They predicted that the headline consumer price index would rise by 1.1% and the core consumer price index would increase by 0.5%. These indexes rose by 1.3% and by 0.7% respectively. Overall, predictions for this year’s inflation rates were slightly off but still close.
When will July data be available?
Each month, new inflation statistics are released that incorporate all the data from the past 12 months. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is in charge of releasing this data and other information about inflation and some other economic changes. Data for the period ending this July is expected to be released on August 10.
Has inflation now peaked?
With the seemingly ever-rising inflation rates, everyone from economists to business owners to normal families is wondering if inflation has finally peaked, or if it ever will. The best way to know if inflation will begin trending downwards is to pay attention to July’s data releasing next week, but there have been several factors recently that seem to suggest that inflation will move downward from here.
One telling sign is the fact that the price of lumber, which rose as high as $1,450 per thousand board feet during the pandemic, has now decreased to around $660. This promotes the building of new homes and businesses, which is one of the most effective forms of stimulating the economy.
Other economic indicators
Although inflation is an important metric to consider, there are other economic indicators that can give us a better idea of where the economy is going. For example, the U.S. civilian unemployment rate has stayed steadily around 3.6% since March, which is good news. Additionally, wages have continued to rise along with inflation, so consumers aren’t completely absorbing the growing cost of goods. Over the last year, average wages rose roughly 3% less than inflation did, so there is still some work to be done there.


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New York Area
About New York Area
What's good to know
Located next to one of the world’s largest natural harbours, New York City’s five boroughs make up the most populous metropolitan area in the United States.
New York City is home to some of America’s greatest arts venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All major American sports are represented by at least one New York team and the Broadway theatre scene is known throughout the world.
Manhattan’s Wall Street is the location of the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, the world’s two largest stock exchanges by trading volume.
New Headquarters: NYC and Arlington
Amazon is excited to announce that it has selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia as the locations for its new headquarters. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarter locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington.
The new locations will join Amazon Seattle to form the company’s three headquarters in North America. In addition, Amazon has announced that it has selected Nashville as the location for a new Centre of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfilment, transportation, supply chain and other similar activities. More than 5,000 jobs will be created at the Operations Centre of Excellence in Nashville.
Hiring at the new headquarter locations will begin in 2019.

domain: news


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We’re well into the final quarter of 2010 already, can you believe it?! Remember last month when we reported the dire numbers of September? Well, the October numbers are in, and it is not completely positive, but not completely negative either. It feels as though we’re balancing on a tight rope and continue to hold somewhat steady, but occasionally quiver, making the rope bounce a bit. If we could just get to some stable ground, we’d feel much better about our real estate market. For now, we balance steadily and hold out hope for the future.
First, lets take a look at October 2010. Sales took quite a dip (-21%) compared to last year. The average list and sold prices were less than last year, but the median list and sold prices were more. Perhaps this is a sign that things are looking up? Also, the average sold/list percentage is now 95% compared to 97% from last October, which means that sellers are getting less and buyers are getting better deals. The homes people bought in October are larger (5% on average) this year than they were last year, and the price per square foot is less by almost 11%. Homes are also sitting on the market for longer periods of time, compared to last October.
Its not enough, though, to look at only monthly numbers because it is such a small snippet of time compared to the year-to-date statistics.
These numbers show a more true picture of the current market. Properties are still selling this year, but the number sold is down 4.36% from last year. Homes are also selling for between 4% and 5% less than last year at this time, and are sitting on the market for about the same amount of time. The average price per square foot has decreased by almost 6%, which buyers like and sellers hate. This means values have decreased since last year.
If you are interested in dissecting the data and looking at sales by price range, take a look at the chart above. Most homes are selling in the $100K – $200K range, followed closely by those in the $200K – $300K range. They are not selling too quickly, though, because the average days on market for these price ranges is 191 and 219, respectively. (That’s about 6 – 7 months.) As you can see from the active listings in October, there are a LOT of options out there for buyers. Inventory is very high, which should prompt sellers to really set their homes apart from the rest in a positive way to catch the attention of prospective buyers!
I’ve created an additional chart which highlights the number of sold properties over the past year [see below]. This helps in visualizing the state of the market (in terms of sold properties) for any given month of the year. Yes, sales are down compared to last year at this time, but we’re hopeful that the end of the calendar year will bring in more sales to help keep the market moving forward.
Stay tuned for next month’s report…


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Ahead of the release of Sony and Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaall, Zendaya and the cast of the film made a surprise trip to Disney California Adventure on Wednesday, May 8.[Read more…]
The Disneyland Resort is introducing a brand-new event for guests of all ages to enjoy this Halloween season – Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party at Disney California Adventure park.[Read more…]
Hosted by Disney YouTuber Maxwell Glick and legendary Disney special effects animator and author Dave Bossert, Black and White day celebrates Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and other black and white Disney cartoons. Black and White Day returns this year, for the third anniversary of the event, on May 19th, 2019.[Read more…]
The Avengers made a surprise visit to the Disneyland Resort today to help launch Avengers Universe Unites, a charity event that supports Disney Team of Heroes, which offers help to seriously ill children around the world.


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This time last year, businesses were facing operational disruptions, and in many cases, full closures. Now, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re catching up with companies to get their thoughts on the last 12 months and outlooks on what’s to come.
In February 2020, when the world started to learn and hear more about COVID-19, JDS Industries president and CEO Scott Sletten says, “It was much more about it being an issue in China.”
During this time, he says most companies were more worried about how the COVID-19 virus would affect their supply chains due to the closure of factories and manufacturing plants in China.
“In the second half of March, it began to spread much more in the U.S. and elsewhere, and then it became a demand problem as events got canceled all over the world,” Sletten states.
According to him, late March, April, and May brought the worst of it for JDS in terms of numbers. “We had the biggest decline in demand for our products,” Sletten says. “At first, everything just stopped as businesses across the country had to shut down. Companies everywhere put purchases on hold as they went into crisis mode and wanted to save all cash that they could.”
He continues, “As May went on and into June, demand slowly returned in many areas, but still at levels much lower than 2019. The hardest-hit areas for JDS were those related to sports such as trophies and medals.”
Over the last year, JDS has made several internal and operational changes. It moved employees to remote work and rotated in-office staff. Sletten also mentions the company had to deal with employees who tested positive or were exposed to someone with COVID-19 who had to quarantine.
Despite lower demands and managing employees and operations in the wake of the virus, Sletten says JDS had no issue keeping up with customer needs and helping out where it could.
“We did see many more customers ordering online instead of calling in their orders,” and he says, “JDS did many things with charities as well, such as making and donating things like masks and hand sanitizer.”
Although there is some light at the end of the tunnel, Sletten tells GRAPHICS PRO, “Things are not fully back to normal.” The demand for sports-related products continues to be the most impacted, and PPE items like sublimatable face masks, gaiters, hand sanitizer, and acrylic sheet stock are still in supply and demand.
With all the changes and uncertainties of the year, Sletten says flexibility has been huge for the company. “We have had to change how we do some things to accommodate both customers’ and employees’ needs.”
As JDS heads into this new year and looks ahead at the next six months to a year, Sletten’s outlook is positive for the company and the industry.
“We are hoping to see things continue to improve over the next few months as vaccines roll out and people become more confident in getting back to a little more normal life,” he states. “We are hoping to see more sporting events happening in later second quarter and into third quarter. Trade shows also will be restarting, we think in this same time frame, and that will also be a good demand driver for our industry.”


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San Mateo-based SolarCity announced Tuesday that it plans to buy Paramount Solar, a subsidiary of Paramount Equity, in a transaction valued at roughly $120 million. The deal gives SolarCity access to Paramount’s remote selling capability, which should further drive down the cost of acquiring new customers.
“We have the best sales and marketing team,” said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive in an interview Tuesday. “We need to become the best at remote selling. We looked at various acquisitions and no one had the leadership that Paramount Solar has.”
SolarCity has more than 3,400 employees and will add an additional 150 from Paramount.
SolarCity also raised its 2013 guidance to 278 megawatts to account for Paramount Solar’s backlog of uninstalled customers. SolarCity also has a goal of having 1 million solar customers by July 4, 2018.
SolarCity workers install solar panels on rooftops at Hickam Communities at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. (Photo: Business Wire)


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LoopUp Group PLC (AIM:LOOP) has announced a major strategic sales and distribution alliance for its Cloud Telephony solution with an international telecommunications provider.
In the third quarter, the cloud platform announced the launch of the Cloud Telephony solution, integrated with Microsoft Teams via a ‘Direct Routing’ peering with Microsoft.
READ: LoopUp raises £9m to buy digital learning company and invest more in cloud telephony
It allows customers to make phone calls to external phone numbers and receive phone calls to their own work phone numbers, all directly from their Microsoft Teams user interfaces.
In July, the AIM-listed company said it had since won 15 direct cloud telephony customers, built a pipeline of direct sales opportunities with an annual contract value of £58 million and developed a strong negotiation pipeline with potential strategic alliance partners for indirect sales and distribution. This agreement announcement marks the execution of the first of these major alliances, he noted.
Under the terms of the agreement, the new partner will resell LoopUp’s Cloud Telephony solution on a white label basis to its business customer base, which covers more than 20 national markets.
This partnership marks the introduction of cloud-based Microsoft Teams telephony for business customers in this region, where the general adoption of Microsoft Teams has increased sharply since its launch.
It also extends the geographic coverage of LoopUp’s services for its own direct multinational customers, who are looking to consolidate their global telephony into a single, cohesively managed implementation through a single vendor on a single platform.
The group will be a fully licensed and regulated telephony provider in approximately 60 countries by the first quarter of 2022, and this strategic alliance will extend its reach of providing compliant services to approximately 80 countries during this period, which, according to the group, will represent the market leader. blanket.
Further details of the alliance will be announced closer to the launch of the service, which is expected to take place in the first half of 2022.
“We are delighted to announce our first strategic cloud telephony sales and distribution alliance with a leading player in the telecommunications market,” commented Chief Executive Officer Steve Flavell.
“We believe that such alliances represent a highly scalable and valuable market entry route for the group. Both the partner and we are seeing clear customer demand for Microsoft Teams telephony in their markets, and we look forward to working alongside their team to help meet that demand.”


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Edelman’s Steve Rubel: Platforms will continue to control distribution
The shift to mobile and the rise of platforms are the biggest forces influencing modern media, Edelman chief content strategist Steve Rubel believes.
Rubel, a longtime media industry watcher and advisor to top marketers, is this week’s guest on The Digiday Podcast. He is focused on how the shift to mobile and rise of platforms change the nature of content dissemination. Overall, Rubel professes to be bullish on both publishers and marketers finding ways to play ball with giant platforms like Facebook and Google. But then, they don’t have much choice either.
“The question is whether these platforms are here to stay and are they going to be on these homescreens for years to come,” Rubel said.
Below are some highlights from our conversation.
It’s a platforms world, and everyone has to play ball.
The biggest shift happening in the media world is the rise of giant platforms, from Google to Facebook to Twitter to Snapchat, and the control they’re exerting. Rubel cites two key stats that sum up the situation: 60 percent of media consumption is now mobile, and the average person has just five apps on their phones, usually those of platforms. That means content providers have stopped fighting the power of platforms and are mostly going with the flow.
“There’s more sources of information than there were five years ago,” Rubel said. “It’s like all these cars are trying to go through the Lincoln Tunnel at three o’clock on a Friday afternoon and there are only two tubes. There’s a couple companies that control all the content that’s going to make it through.”
But platforms still need publishers.
There was a time of understandable wariness between publishers and platforms, but Rubel sees that dissolving in a “summer of love.” For publishers, the might of platforms is simply too much, as evidenced by the eagerness to post directly on platforms via Facebook Instant Articles, Apple News and Snapchat Discover. For platforms, Rubel sees a growing recognition of the importance of quality content in keeping users to stick around where they can see lots of ads.
“There’s this courting of content creators, including entertainment,” Rubel said. “I see the value play. If [platforms] are able to lock up deals with content creators and create some kind of exclusive access, they can get more time of people’s day.”
Most publishers will take the risk.
While many publishers are bullish on the prospects of publishing directly to platforms, there are voices that warn of the dangers of publishers becoming vassals to the publishing lords. Columnist Michael Wolff has called the rush to embrace platforms tantamount to suicide and The Awl’s John Herrman has sketched out a nightmare scenario for publishers.
“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” Rubel noted. “If you don’t your competition will. If you do are we looking at an AOL situation, where initially AOL initially came to publishers for their content and then publishers had to pay AOL. There was a switch.”
Publishers still matter a lot to brands.
Despite the doom and gloom, brands still need publishers, in Rubel’s view. There are some brands that can create their own media and mostly skip publishers, but publishers still have audience trust and distribution power that marketers need to tap.
“We need them for scale and we’re foolish to think that we can do it by ourselves,” Rubel said.
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On May 30, 2013, Disney Resort Management Company in Shanghai announced that it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 60 percent. This in turn will help to improve an overall energy efficiency of the resort by three times. This move will be taken with the help of local associates for environmental protection and supply of energy.
The company will be adopting a leading environmental technology to supply its resort with heating, cooling and compressed air, which will increase overall energy efficiency. In Chinese mainland, Shanghai Disneyland is the first Disney Project and is due to open in 2015. It will be located on a 3.9 square km and will be three times bigger than Hong Kong Disneyland.
Utilities will be generated with the help of a combined cooling and heating plant, which will be built and operated onsite by the Shanghai International Tourism and Resort Zone New Energy Co Ltd. Mike Crawford, general manager of the resort said, “Shanghai Disney Resort is devoted to seeking new technology and business solutions that reduce our impact on the environment, save resources and promote sustainable technology”.
Construction on the Shanghai Disneyland’s Enchanted Storybook Castle began last week and when finished, will represent the biggest and tallest Disney Castle in the world.


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ZTE Smooth: Android China Phones are here!
Last month, I wrote about the possible entry of China phones running Android OS in the smartphone market. Looks like ZTE counld be the first one with their “Smooth” handset.
This Palm Pre-look-alike runs Android OS 1.6 and it ain’t bad-looking either.
According to Engadget, the ZTE Smooth has a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth and GPS. And at only $146, this looks like one hot item to consider (probably the very first Android smartphone under $200) when it comes out in August 2010.
Hat tip to Chadd.


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Pinpointing the origin of the tuxedo in America has always been a bit of a mystery.
The prevailing story is that Griswold Lorillard, the 22-year-old son of tobacco magnate and Tuxedo Park, N.Y., founder Pierre Lorillard, cut the tails off his jacket when attending the inaugural Autumn Ball at the Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park in 1886, causing a scandal and spawning a new fashion trend.
It’s true that Lorillard and several friends attended the dinner party in bastardized tailcoats, said Chris Sonne, town historian for Tuxedo Park, but that’s not the whole story.
“The press picked it up and said they looked ridiculous,” he said. “A lot of people said it was the beginning of the dinner jacket but if you cut off the tails of a tailcoat, you’ve got a mess jacket that just goes to the waist. A tuxedo is a suit coat.”
The real story actually starts 150 years ago on London’s Savile Row, where bespoke tailor Henry Poole created a less formal version of the tailcoat for the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. James Brown Potter, a Tuxedo Club member, attended a dinner at the prince’s country estate, Sandringham, early in 1886. Potter asked the prince for some fashion advice and he was sent to Poole, where he was fitted with a short black jacket and tie. Potter liked the new look so much that he brought it back home to Tuxedo Park, and he and his friends wore the dinner jackets to a bachelor’s dinner at Delmonico’s in New York City and then to nonformal dinners in Tuxedo Park. Asked why they were “out of uniform,” the group responded that they were wearing the latest Tuxedo fashion and the name stuck.
This weekend, descendants of Henry Poole and James Potter will be back in Tuxedo Park to celebrate the 150th anniversary of that little black jacket.
Planned festivities include an exhibition by the London College of Fashion at the Tuxedo Historical Society Friday night, followed by the return of the Autumn Ball at the Tuxedo Club Saturday evening. The Autumn Ball, which has been dormant since 1971, is being sponsored by Giorgio Armani.
The exhibition will be on display at the Tuxedo Historical Society through Nov. 4 and will showcase the winning designs from London College of Fashion students who were charged with reinventing the tuxedo for the 21st century.
“It started over a year ago when Steven Dell [program director for the college] got the idea to work with Henry Poole and second-year bespoke tailoring students to celebrate 150 years of the tuxedo,” said Ben Whyman, curator of the exhibit. And when they discovered that it was also the 125th anniversary of the Tuxedo Club’s Autumn Ball, “we decided to celebrate two great milestones,” said Roma Vaccaro, project manager.
Interestingly, the winning design, by Maria Thelin, is actually a women’s tuxedo and features an outside jacket that attaches to a waistcoat and a keyhole detail on the back.
The exhibition opened in London on Sept. 7 and then was shown at Harrods and the Burlington Arcade in that city before traveling to New York.
Vaccaro said plans call for it to be shown in Brazil next spring and the hope is that it will also be exhibited in Japan and Paris.
In addition to Thelin’s winning design, about a dozen of the students’ works will be on display along with two behind-the-scenes films on the project, produced by Vaccaro. There are also a series of black-and-white photographs of various people — musicians, actors, playwrights, bankers and students — “who share a collective appreciation of the tuxedos,” Vaccaro said.
The Tuxedo Historical Society display also includes some vintage formalwear pieces, including a Brooks Brothers tuxedo, an array of bow ties and a scarlet waistcoat.
There'll be no rest for those headed to Europe for men's, as Paris just closed the gap with Milan. According to a provisional calendar released by the Chambre Syndicale, Paris Men's Week will now open a day earlier on January 16. See new highlights on the official lineup on WWD.com. #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @kukukuba)
BREAKING: Jonathan Saunders is leaving @DVF. The designer has resigned from his position as chief creative officer of Diane von Furstenberg, the company said in a statement on Friday. At the time of his hire, von Furstenberg said Saunders’ arrival symbolized and facilitated her stepping back from the day-to-day duties that occupy the work of a full-time creative director. The British designer joined DVF in May 2016 and was in charge of all product categories. #wwdnews
For @versace_official’s spring ad campaign, the brand emphasized the archival prints from the spring tribute collection dedicated to the late Gianni Versace. Closing out the show were five of Gianni’s favorite models: Cindy, Naomi, Carla, Helena, and Claudia. Bowing on December 18, the new campaign is yet another tribute to supermodel-dom as the images by Steven Meisel are fronted by @iamnaomicampbell, @cturlington, @gisele and more. #wwdfashion
Four-time Oscar-nominated actress Annette Bening has been waiting 20 years to play Gloria Graham in "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool," which will be released on December 29. The movie about Graham – a Hollywood star known for her controversial relationship with a younger Englishman named Peter Turner – is based off a memoir Turned wrote. "She felt vulnerable to him, because she loved him, she really did love him. And anyone that we really truly are in love with, we re vulnerable to in a very deep way," said Bening. Read our full interview with the modern icon of an actress on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: @ninebagatelles; Styled by @cristinaehrlich)
The crisp white button down: a staple that can be dressed up or down and accessorized throughout the decades. Here, on a Art Basel-goer in 2017 on the left and on the iconic Audrey Hepburn in “Roman Holiday” in 1953 on the right. #tbt #wwdfashion (📷: Andrew Morales)
Known for her work with @victoriassecret, 25-year-old model @georgiafowler is raising her profile in Hollywood. Fowler stars in @vincecamuto’s holiday campaign, which launched in partnership with “Pitch Perfect 3.” “Almost every shoot with Vince Camuto, I’ve had to face a fear…It was definitely a challenge. I’m so grateful for it, though. I’ve always wanted to be a pop star, so that was the perfect chance,” Fowler said. Head to WWD.com to read about Fowler’s experience modeling, including at the #VSFashionShow, and her relationship with Nick Jonas. #wwdeye (📷: @jilliansollazzo)
EXCLUSIVE: Huda Kattan just became the first beauty influencer to land a major beauty deal. Kattan's business, @hudabeauty, has received a minority investment from private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners. The brand, which industry sources say is on track to do $200 million in retail sales for 2017, will receive support on product, retail and geographic expansion through the deal. Get all the details on the deal and read @_a_collins' interview with Kattan on WWD.com. Link in bio. (📷: @jgreenery) #wwdbeauty #wwdnews
Peruvian model @juanaburga_official – who is known for walking the runways of @rodarte, @viviennewestwood and @torybuch – is making the move to the big screen with drama “Los Últimos.” The film premiered in Argentina in November and arrives in the U.S. and Europe in 2018. On making the switch from modeling to acting, Burga told WWD: “It’s a completely different thing – a lot of people think it’s similar or try to connect things, especially like getting used to the camera or being looked at all the time or playing these different characrers, but film is a completely different story.” #wwdeye (📷: @jgreenery)
London’s newly opened @designmuseum will look back on the life and work of Azzedine Alaïa in a show that the designer helped to curate before he died of heart failure last month. The retrospective, which Alaïa had worked on with Mark Wilson, chief curator of the @groningermuseum, will look at the impact of his work worldwide. The show, “Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier,” will run from May 10 to October 7. Read more about the exhibit on WWD.com #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @zefashioninsider)


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Trans World Entertainment Corp. announced late today that a proposal by Robert Higgins to acquire the company and take it private has been withdrawn.
Higgins, chairman and chief executive of the Albany-based music and video retailer, as well as its founder and largest shareholder, had proposed teaming up Bryant Riley of Los Angeles to jointly buy out other shareholders at $5 a share.
Negotiations on the deal, first proposed in November, already were extended twice.
But today, Higgins cited “continuing poor credit market conditions” for the withdrawal, saying they had pushed up the costs of needed debt financing.
He said the company, which operates the mall-based FYE chain, would continue to explore “strategic options to maximize shareholder value.”
He said the company, led by a special committee of independent directors, has been exploring Trans World’s sale for a year. “There are no other pending proposals by management and/or any third parties to acquire the company at this time,” Trans World said in a release.
Trans World operates operates 800 stores in the United States, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Shares (Nasdaq: TWMC) end the day at $3.27, down 6 cents. The withdrawal was announced after the markets had closed.


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JASON Aims To Redeem Natural Deodorant, Hair-Care With Products That Work
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Deodorants and hair care have been two particularly tough categories to perfect in the natural and organic world, but The Hain Celestial Group’s JASON unit believes it has made significant headway.
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Roughly five years ago, Ido Leffler set out to build the “Apple of the natural beauty world,” a “positive” brand for “light-green” consumers that would generate excitement and get people talking.
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Procter & Gamble management highlights product sampling and trials as opportunities to drive home product benefits with consumers at a time when the firm is increasing prices to counter the currency impact of the strong dollar. Analysts pressured P&G CFO Jon Moeller for details on the firm's turnaround following a troublesome quarter.


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Nissan’s in a bit of trouble (again), although it isn’t for the antics of its senior staff. As former wonder-CEO Carlos Ghosn fled for Lebanon hiding in a box, the company was facing falling revenues and profits. Market share and volume was in decline, and even the pioneering LEAF and Juke are looking distinctly average.
Market share started a slow decline
In the mid 2010’s there was talk of Nissan becoming another Toyota. Sales were up, market share was up and LEAF was a runaway success in the small (but growing) BEV space.
Then it started to go wrong. First in Europe, then the US, even in Japan. At one point it had 4 percent of the European market, today it’s hanging on to 2.5% (and there are signs that is going to sink further). The decline seems to be across the board, even LEAF is struggling as more capable competitors arrive at a steady pace.
Although correlation doesn’t equal causation, it’s interesting to note Nissan’s US decline seems to align with the “buy American” rhetoric coming out of its political leadership.
China’s a high point, although it’s nowhere near as dominant as it was in the heady days of 2011. The general trend there is up after a shocking mid-2010s when Chinese manufacturers became more confident.
Volume is falling too
Europe has seen 2 straight years of falling volume, and the start of 2020 (pre pandemic lockdowns) seemed to carry that trend on. 2017 seems to be an outlier though, potentially fuelled by the launch of the new LEAF and a face-lifted Qashqai. Set it to one side, and the trend is a definite downward one.
The tale’s slightly different in the US, where volume peaked over 2016/17 before falling at least 6% for the next two years. 2019’s volume was around 2014 levels.
China is an odd one again. Volume fell for the first time in 2019, but only by a rounding error amount. However, the general trend is a slowdown.
2020 has thrown everything in the air. Trying to extrapolate trends is nigh on impossible and arguably a fool’s errand. A gambling man might have put money on the decline continuing – and certainly there were early signs this was happening.
There are no major new models planned for 2020, which suggests the decline would’ve continued. 2021 sees the launch of a new BEV SUV – Ariya – which met initial excitement until range and performance numbers started to emerge. As with LEAF, it looks distinctly middle-of-the-road.
Where did it go wrong?
Setting Ghosn’s somewhat dramatic behaviour to one side, Nissan has had problems for decades. The biggest complaint levelled at it is how long different generations of vehicles last.
While competitors will refresh or update models every 3-4 years, Nissan hangs on for 5 or 6. It isn’t just that models end up looking old and tired, it also fails to capitalise on its pioneering position in segments.
When it was launched in 2010, LEAF was hailed as an affordable and practical Electric Vehicle. It created a buzz and has gone on to be one of the most popular EVs. The original design lasted 7 years, tweaked under the hood but with style and performance largely unchanged. Instead of capitalising on the pioneering position, Nissan sat back and watched the cash roll in while BMW, Kia and others caught up and overtook them.
The same goes for the Juke, which created a lifestyle slant to the fledgling Crossover market and went without a major revision for 9 years. Micra/March generations can last for up to 10 years. Quashqai lasted for 7 years before the latest generation appeared in 2013.
Is it about to change?
By early 2020, a new executive team was in place. It wasn’t a case of tweaking personnel either, there has been a widespread clear out and restaffing. Out goes Ghosn’s “hero worship” style where you take individual credit, and in comes a more Japanese style of consensus and collectivism.
The new Senior Executive is made up mainly of long-term Nissan or Alliance employees. At the head is Uchida Makato, an anonymous long-termer with a reputation for pragmatism and a background in purchasing. Beside him is Stephen Ma, the CFO with experience in all the major markets. With a strong commercial and operational focus is the more visible Ashwani Gupta, whose background includes time at Renault and Mitsubishi. Finally we have Christian Vandenhende, who comes out of the Alliance and has both purchasing and quality in his background.
As individuals they’re anonymous, barely heard of outside of the company. As a group they’ve got a strong mix of commercial and change experience. Perhaps a good sign for the future, provided someone can get a grip on the fundamental problems with product, brand and agility.
Nissan finds itself in much the same position as when Carlos Ghosn was parachuted in back in 1999. It’s almost like his two decades at the helm was for nothing: falling sales, falling margins, products that are too long in the tooth. All of his making.
This time we have a team in place who read more like steady hands there to stabilise and consolidate than transform. I think that’s good news for Yokohama as it could do with settling down and some fundamental problems sorted out.
This time we have a team in place who read more like steady hands there to stabilise and consolidate than transform.
Don’t take too long though. BEVs are taking off, and with two fairly indistinct offerings and a legacy of old-age models to refresh, Nissan could be exposed again.
Will we all be working from home? TL;DR: no!
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Working from home: can it work for your business?
Japan – UK Trade
How I survive endless video conferences and Zoom calls
Redundancy: the hardest decision a business owner can make
The Kübler-Ross Model
Even in a lockdown, email marketing best practice still applies


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- Lyft said some cities were starting to see significant rebounds following the coronavirus' decimation of ride-hailing requests.
- Overall, US rides were up 26% in May compared to April, with some cities like Austin, Texas up as much as 73%.
- Shares of Lyft rose about 4% in after-hours trading as investors welcomed the rebound.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
After near total decimation because of the coronavirus pandemic, Lyft said Tuesday that ride requests were starting to pick up again.
Overall, rides were up 26% in the United States in May compared to April, but are still down 70% from the same period of last year, Lyft said in a regulatory filing.
Some cities, however, are seeing much larger upticks as parts of the country relax shelter-in-place orders sooner than others. Austin, for example, saw a 73% increase, while Miami was up 64%, Las Vegas up 59%, and Denver up 54%.
Investors cheered the good news, sending shares of Lyft up about 4% in after-hours trading, making up for trading day's losses. Unlike Uber, Lyft had no food-delivery arm to lean on ancillary revenue as taxi rides plummeted amid stay-at-home orders around the world. The stock remains down more than 50% from its initial public offering in 2019.
"Since mid-March, Lyft has observed that the actions instituted by government authorities to limit the spread of COVID-19 have impacted the relative distribution of intra-week rides," the company said. "Riders are taking relatively more rides on weekdays versus weekends, including commute trips by essential workers as well as trips to stores selling essential goods."
Lyft will disclose its full financial results for the second-quarter in early August, it said.


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- Cape student sues, accuses school officials of slamming her to ground multiple times (04/28/16)47
- Neelys Landing man shot, killed by highway patrol trooper after traffic stop (05/01/16)42
- Bob Evans restaurant in Cape Girardeau among chain's 21 closings (04/26/16)9
- Missouri House votes to allow concealed weapons without permits (04/28/16)8
- Police report filed, but no charges in incident at Cape Central (04/29/16)40
- Two hurt in motorcycle wreck on Interstate 55 (04/25/16)1
- 2016 All-Missourian Boys Basketball (04/29/16)
- Senator introduces bill for I-57 that would connect Sikeston with Little Rock (04/28/16)4
- Law firm requests information about Cape's traffic cameras (04/25/16)3
- Local lawmakers split over failed medical marijuana bill; voters may have a say (04/26/16)19
Trio of reports shows economy picking up
WASHINGTON -- Factories hummed, consumers kept the nation's cash registers busy and construction spending was brisk, says a trio of reports that offered fresh signs the economy's recovery has legs.
The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of manufacturing activity rose to 63.6 in January, up from a reading of 63.4 in December. That's promising news for the nation's manufacturers, which were hardest hit by the 2001 recession and have struggled to get back on firm footing.
In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported that consumers boosted their spending by a healthy 0.4 percent in December, following a brisk 0.5 percent rise in November -- even better than the government previously estimated.
And, in another report from the department, construction spending in December posted its best month on record.
The total value of building projects under way came in at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of $933.2 billion, representing a 0.4 percent rise from November's level. The strength shown in December was led by residential projects by private builders, where spending also hit a monthly all-time high.
The latest snapshot of consumers' spending appetite, meanwhile, also showed that 2003 ended on a good note. Consumers spent at a solid clip in both November and December -- an improvement from the prior two months when their spending was flat.
Americans' incomes rose by a modest 0.2 percent in December, following a 0.3 percent rise the month before.
Consumers, whose spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of all economic activity in the United States, have been buying at a sufficient pace to keep the economic recovery rolling along.
The economy grew at a healthy 4 percent annual rate in the October-to-December quarter, although it was a slowdown from the sizzling 8.2 percent rate registered in the previous quarter. That marked the strongest performance in nearly two decades.
Consumers took a break from a buying binge and spent modestly for much of the fourth quarter. Their spending went up at a 2.6 percent rate, down from a 6.9 percent growth rate in the third quarter, the fastest clip since 1986.
Analysts were predicting a slowdown in economic growth -- and consumer spending -- in the fourth quarter as the stimulative impact of tax cuts and a refinance frenzy faded with the onset of winter.
Economists are optimistic that consumer spending -- helped by tax refunds -- is picking up in the current quarter and will help the economy expand at a rate of more than 4 percent.
Short-term borrowing costs controlled by the Federal Reserve are likely to stay near rock-bottom levels during the first three months of this year, analysts predict. That might give consumers and businesses an incentive to spend and invest more, lifting economic growth.
Low interest rates in 2003 powered residential construction and home sales, making these industries an important source of strength for the economy.
In December, consumers increased spending on "durable" goods, such as cars and appliances, by a strong 1.8 percent, up from a 1 percent advance in November.
Spending on services rose by 0.4 percent for the second month in a row. Spending on "nondurables" such as food and clothes, held steady in December, after a brisk 0.7 percent increase the month before.
With spending outpacing income growth, the nation's personal savings rate -- savings as a percentage of after-tax income -- dipped to 1.3 percent in December from 1.5 percent in November. December's rate was the lowest in a year, matching the rate seen at that time.


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Newsweek names Findlay Market among top 10 best food markets in world
Findlay Market has earned a spot among the top 10 best food markets in the world, according to a new list published by Newsweek.
Newsweek named Findlay Market along with others including La Boqueria in Spain and Jemaa el-Fna in Morocco.
Newsweek credited Findlay Market's farm-fresh produce, meats and cheeses with making it one of the best. The magazine also noted that the market provides entertainment, welcoming performers and musicians.
View the full list here.


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Tascam has launched a new and improved, yet easy to use and highly versatile audio interface for podcasts, streaming, and any other broadcasting. The US-42B is a polished model in black in their MiNiSTUDIO Creator series. Now, Photo Savings has it just for you!
Hercules releases the DJControl Inpulse 500, designed for the DJs who are just beginning and finding their groove. With the 2-deck USB DJ controller for Serato DJ and DJUCED, this DJ controller will help you get started. It has everything you can think of – and more.
With the high success and popularity of their instant cameras, Fujifilm is adding to their lengthy roster with the announcement of the Instax Mini 11, which carries more features than its former versions.
Sigma has just added a new member to their contemporary line of lenses for mirrorless cameras with the new 56mm lens. The addition to the roster completes their trifecta of fast aperture lenses for mirrorless cameras, which includes the 16mm and the 30mm.


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(Updates with Shin comment in the fifth paragraph.)
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea and Japan announced they will increase a currency-swap accord to $70 billion amid uncertainty over Europe’s fiscal woes and the global economy.
“It’s important to enhance financial and currency cooperation to preemptively stabilize the financial markets amid escalating global economic uncertainties,” South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said at a press conference in Seoul today after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. The measures include a one-year, $30 billion dollar swap line and a won-yen agreement of the same amount, according to a statement released today by the Bank of Korea and Finance Ministry.
The agreement, which expands a previous $13 billion credit line, offers the nations protection from funding shocks as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis deepens and demand in South Korea and Japan’s largest export markets slow. The won extended gains after the announcement, rising 1.5 percent to 1,128.70 per dollar as of 2:37 p.m. in Seoul, approaching the strongest close since mid-September.
“Korea has no foreign-exchange liquidity problems, but the credit line can be a big help in case of a crunch,” said Jeong Young Sik, a research fellow at Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul.
Some $10 billion of the funds made available through the regional foreign-reserve currency pool known as the Chiang Mai Initiative, the statement said. South Korea doesn’t have any plans to tap the credit line now, Vice Finance Minister Shin Je Yoon told reporters in Seoul today, adding that the deal may help stabilize the foreign-exchange market.
South Korea and Japan agreed to resume talks on free-trade agreements “as soon as possible,” Lee said. His country is outpacing Japan in opening up its economy, a process that was boosted when the U.S. Congress passed a free-trade agreement with South Korea this month. South Korea is also making more progress in increasing exports to China, Asia’s biggest economy.
--With assistance from Toru Fujioka and Sachiko Sakamaki in Tokyo. Editors: Lily Nonomiya, Paul Panckhurst
To contact the reporters on this story: Eunkyung Seo in Seoul at email@example.com; William Sim in Seoul at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Panckhurst at email@example.com


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The much-heralded McDonald’s turnaround may be working – despite another monthly fall in sales.
On Monday, the fast-food giant revealed that for a 12th straight month, same-restaurant sales around the world were down. The 0.3% drop, however, exceeded expectation. Analysts expected a decline of 0.9%.
The figures were mainly achieved thanks to a 2.3% increase in sales in Europe. In the US, sales continued to drop – restaurants open at least 13 months reported a 2.2% fall.
Starting in July, McDonald’s will stop reporting its sales on monthly basis. The company will issue only quarterly same-restaurant sales, which it believes will better measure performance and allow it to focus on long-term performance.
“The monthly reporting just lends itself to more volatility, and I think investors focus on short-term issues,” Jack Russo, an analyst at Edward Jones and Co, told Bloomberg. “It’s a good move. Quite honestly, it’s kind of long overdue.”
Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s new chief executive, has introduced a number of changes since he took over in March.
“As we look to shape McDonald’s … as a modern, progressive burger company, our priorities are threefold: driving operational growth, returning excitement to our brand and unlocking financial value,” Easterbrook said last month in announcing the turnaround plan, which includes delivery and an all-day breakfast menu. He went on to say that the company needed a sharper focus on what the customer wanted.
In the US, however, it seems the answer is: “not McDonald’s”. McDonald’s has been losing customers to companies such as Smashburger, Shake Shack and Five Guys. Such burger joints are now looking to expand to the UK.
“The United Kingdom is hungry for better burgers and presents a significant opportunity for us to meet the global demand in the category,” said Scott Crane, Smashburger’s chief executive.
Competition is not the only thing affecting McDonald’s bottom line. McDonald’s workers have spent more than a year campaigning for higher wages as part of the Fight for $15 campaign. Most recently, they have gained the support of the 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“All of you should not have to march in the streets to get a living wage, but thank you for marching in the streets to get that living wage,” Clinton told an audience in Detroit, Michigan on Sunday. “I want to be your champion. I want to fight with you every day.”


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Trade, it seems, is a dirty word these days. It does not take much more than a cursory scan of newspaper headlines to observe the growing prevalence of anti-trade, anti-immigration, anti-globalisation rhetoric which has infused the US Presidential Campaign and which was one of the factors which led 52% of Britons to vote for the UK to withdraw from the European Union. Coupled with a continued slowdown in global trade growth, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has recently warned about the “worrying rise in the rate of new trade-restrictive measures” initiated by its members in the review period compared to the previous period. These developments beg the question – what does this growing anti-trade, anti-globalisation populism mean for developing countries, particularly small states in the Caribbean which rely so heavily on trade with major countries to sustain their small open economies?
Why the Anti-trade/Anti-globalisation turn?
Neoliberalism, the philosophic orientation of developed countries which extolled the orthodoxy of the free market and free trade, has dominated mainstream development discourse since the 1980s. During the early 1990s developing countries which underwent structural adjustment programmes under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were forced to adopt market reforms, including trade liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation which were seen as the necessary medicine for an ailing economy. These policy prescriptions came to be known as the “Washington Consensus”.
Neoliberal ideology pushed for the removal of restrictions on not just the flow of goods and services, but also on the flow of people and capital across borders, facilitating greater integration and interdependence among states. Not everyone bought into the ideology. Most Latin American countries resisted for as long as they could. But by the time of the fall of Soviet Union and of the competing communist ideology, it seemed that in the words of Margaret Thatcher “There is no Alternative” to the free market.
To be sure, populist hostility to trade and globalisation in some segments of the developed world is not a novelty. The reader may recall the 1999 anti-globalisation protests at a WTO meeting in Seattle, Washington (US) as an example. However, anti-trade and anti-globalisation populism has attracted support in policy circles in the post-2008 era for several reasons. Some of it is linked, of course, to the usual suspects of xenophobia, nativism and other phobia – the fear that the homeland is being taken over and ruined by foreign products and foreign people, as well as concerns over terrorism. But this only tells part of the story.
The other part is disenchantment with the premise of neoclassical economics that removing the hand of the state in the economy will improve the welfare of consumers, promote efficient allocation of resources and create economic growth. Many no longer view this to be true. First, there is greater public concern in OECD countries over levels of income inequality, wage stagnation and unemployment in spite of liberal economic policies. There is the increasing opinion that the free market and free trade are not working for everyone, with gains being confined to the wealthy and multinational companies.
There is the belief, not entirely justified, that free trade is costing domestic jobs and industry. Across the pond in the UK for instance, a major plank of the Leave platform was based on stopping immigration from poorer European countries which has been blamed for taking UK jobs and threatening the traditional British way of life. In regards to free trade agreements, much of the concern is over what is seen as provisions which restrict governments’ regulatory space in areas such as public health and the environment. The net result is a strong populist backlash which has reinvigorated the rise of right wing, nationalist parties which advocate closing off borders and erecting barriers and renegotiating free trade agreements, while mainstream parties have also sought to pander to this populist fervour.
To varying extents both major candidates in the US presidential campaign have sought to piggy back on this anti-trade populism by making trade a central part of their campaigns in a way that has not been seen in a US presidential election for a long time. Both candidates have aimed their darts directly at free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and mega-regional trade agreements (MRTAs) like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Both candidates have voiced their desire to renegotiate these agreements. Mr Trump has gone further by promising to impose tariffs on Chinese goods and taxes on American companies which relocate to lower cost jurisdictions, to ban the immigration of Muslims and build a purported Mexico-funded wall along the entire border between the US and Mexico. True to his “Make America Great Again” slogan, Mr. Trump has not only hailed the Brexit vote in the UK as the British people taking back their economy but has noted that it is time for America to do the same.
Implications for Developing Countries
So what does this growing anti-trade/anti-globalisation populism have to do with developing countries like those of the Caribbean? After all, Caribbean countries remain on the periphery of global trade and trade policy discourse. Perhaps, thankfully, the Caribbean has not been mentioned in any of the primary debates or on any of the party platforms. But while Caribbean countries have not been the centre of the trade world since the days of the slave trade, foreign trade remains central to Caribbean countries’ economic livelihood.
Caribbean countries are largely import-dependent, relying significantly on imported goods, services and capital (especially foreign direct investment). They are also reliant on a narrow range of exports and export markets, rendering them susceptible to any protectionist measures which affect the competitiveness or ease of access of their exports in their major markets. A prime example is the rum issue where US subsidising of rum producers in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands has negatively affected the competitiveness of Caribbean rum in the US market. Many Caribbean countries also benefit from unilateral preferences to the US market under the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the more general, Generalised System of Preferences. In light of the Republican candidate’s zero-sum approach to trade, buffeted by his assertion that America must win the global competition at all costs, what will be the future of these preferential arrangements, far less, any other trade initiatives which benefit developing countries? Furthermore, any adverse changes in the immigration policies of major western countries will have consequences for the Caribbean diaspora living in those countries.
In this recent television interview, the US Republican Presidential Candidate has also suggested that he might “renegotiate or pull out” the US from the WTO in the event that any WTO member brings a challenge against his trade policy plans. The prospect of the world’s third largest economy (after China and the EU) pulling out of the WTO has frightening implications not just for the future of global trade rule-making but also for the amicable settlement of trade disputes. There are concerns about the effectiveness of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism for safeguarding the rights of small states, particularly in light of the US-Antigua & Barbuda Gambling case where that small island developing states is still awaiting US compensation. Despite this flaw, the current WTO dispute settlement system facilitates predictability and security in the global trade system by allowing states to hold each other accountable for breaches of WTO rules in a manner that is peaceful and with limited disruption to global trade. If the US and other any other states follow suit by withdrawing from the WTO, this will make it even more difficult for developing countries and undermine the rules-based trading system.
On a more global level, countries tend to turn inward during periods of crisis, using a wide range of trade policy tools to protect their markets. In 1930 the US government passed 19 U.S.C. ch. 4, otherwise known as the Tariff Act of 1930 or the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act which imposed prohibitive tariffs which some economists blamed for exacerbating the severity of the Great Depression on the US. The global economy is already underperforming and trade growth remains sluggish, which are not welcomed prospects for countries in the Caribbean whose macroeconomic health depend on that of their major trading partners. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, has warned in an interview with the Financial Times that the imposition of new trade barriers could negatively affect the global economy, echoing the WTO’s position that “Members must individually and collectively resist protectionist pressures”.
Is there a silver lining?
There is another side to this coin. I believe trade, once well managed, is a powerful tool for development as it allows for cheaper sourcing of inputs, provides opportunities for the sharing of ideas, technology and best practices and promotes competition which benefits consumers. However, the free market orthodoxy, which postulated that open markets at all costs were good, and that the lesser regulation the better, is flawed. I am, therefore, heartened that these precepts are under scrutiny in the public discourse in a way that they have not been in a long time. The longstanding orthodoxy was that neoliberalism was the only way to promote development.
Many of the arguments now being made in policy circles are arguments which developing countries, in particular small states, have been making about the folly of unmitigated free trade and instead arguing for fair trade. For instance, developing countries have long argued that the comparative advantage argument has been used as justification to keep them as exporters of primary goods, while denying them the trade policy tools which wealthy industrialised countries used to protect their manufacturing industries in the early stages.
While developed countries were pushing bilateral investment treaties containing provisions which were extraordinarily generous to investors while ripping away governments’ regulatory rights to protect against abuses, developing countries were arguing for greater policy space. Developing countries have also long protested developed countries’ demands to open their markets while developed countries continue to heavily subsidise their own agricultural industries.
I read with much interest the article by former US Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, in the Financial Times calling for a responsible nationalism. He poignantly argues that “international agreements would be judged not by how much is harmonised or by how many barriers are torn down but whether citizens are empowered”. Perhaps I am cynical but my main fear is that while this rhetoric may be music to our ears, it is not clear whether this new enlightenment has a development ethos or whether it is done mainly as a cloak for nationalist and protectionist purposes by developed countries to the prejudice of developing countries. Judging by the rhetoric on the US election trail, the latter sadly seems more to be the case.
However, I will try to end on a positive note as I recall again the immortalised words of Margaret Thatcher. It would appear the learned late Prime Minister was wrong and that there is indeed an alternative. In the post-Great Recession era the green shoots of a new theory of how the global economy should operate appears to be taking shape. This new thinking creates space for developing countries to further challenge the neoliberal orthodoxy which developed countries championed for so long in a way that has hitherto been taboo. Developing countries should resist any form of protectionism which seeks to undermine their development gains, while also continue to add their voices to the debate on how trade can be used not as an end in itself but as a conduit for sustainable development which benefits all countries and all peoples and not just a select few.
Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.


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Trend Micro report reveals wide variety of tactics being developed and used by cybercriminals in China
Chinese cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mobile users as they develop ever more sophisticated hacking tools, according to new research from security firm Trend Micro.
Its Mobile Cybercriminal Underground Market report revealed that Chinese hackers are using a variety of in-depth malware and malicious code programs to target users both at home and in the West, with mobile malware kits available to buy from as little as 100 yuan (around £10) on the black market.
“The barriers to launching cybercriminal operations are less in number than ever,” the report stated. “Toolkits are becoming more available and cheaper; some are even offered free of charge.”
The increasing demand for mobile Web access in China has created a lucrative market for cybercriminals trying to exploit what are often vulnerable devices which can be hijacked and used for illegal activities.
Spam networks are among the most popular tools for hackers, who use a GSM modem connected to multiple handsets in order to send out text messages to multiple users. These malicious messages include SMS forwarders – Trojans designed to steal authentication or verification codes sent via text messages. These programs monitor text messages sent from online payment service providers or banks to intercept authentication or verification codes which are then forwarded to cybercriminals.
Although attacks on Apple’s iMessage service were beginning to increase, the report found that it was still users of Google’s Android software who were most at risk. This is not a new issue, however, as last December, researchers at FireEye uncovered 64 Android botnet campaigns which were apparently redirecting SMS messages to Chinese email addresses.
Another major trend is the rise of app-rank boosting services, which can artificially promote a malicious app. The programs create many fake profiles to download and write fake reviews for the app, leading it to receive more attention on popular marketplaces such as Google Play or the iOS App Store.
The price varies depending on which store criminals want to target, as to boost an iPhone app into the top five of Apple’s China app store can cost 60,000 yuan (£5,800). However cybercriminals looking to target Android users pay according to the number of downloads they want, as many Chinese consumers use third-party marketplaces to download apps, with prices starting at 40 yuan (£3.90) for 10,000 downloads.
China is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile markets, expanding by 86.3 percent during 2013 according to recent Gartner figures. However it is dominated by native firms such as ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo, with Western companies like Apple (which assembles its devices in China with Foxconn) largely shut out. This may change soon, however, as the Cupertino-based manufacturer recently announced a deal with China Mobile (which has 760 million subscribers) to supply a first shipment of 1.2m iPhones into the country.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) recently launched China OS, an independent operating system intended to compete with the likes of Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows, in a move backed by the Chinese government as well as Taiwanese mobile device maker HTC. The Linux-based software, called China Operating System or COS, is built with heightened security and usability features as China looks to prevent any further security issues akin to the NSA surveillance scandal.
“Cybercriminals have quickly adapted to technological developments, current trends, and changing user behaviours,” Trend Micro’s report concluded, recommending that further education of mobile users is paramount in order for the public to protect their data and their mobile devices.
What do you know about Internet security? Find out with our quiz!


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Apple’s iPad mini reigns King in the 7-inch form factor market, but may soon lose its crown as Google recently unveiled a refresh of its Nexus 7 tablet that puts Apple’s smaller tablet to shame. Powered by a new version of the Android Jelly Bean operating system, the new Nexus 7 features a 1920×1200 pixel display, which is far greater than the iPad mini… and also higher than any other tablet currently available on the market. The new tablet improves on its predecessor in almost every way: a more powerful device with almost twice as much processing power and four times the graphical performance, all packed into a lighter and thinner case with a smaller bezel. The new Nexus 7 is available for as little as $229 – $100 cheaper than the mini – the Nexus 7 is now available in stores and online. Apple is expected to show off new iPads this fall, but for now, Google’s new Nexus 7 rules the 7-inch roost.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.


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Hyundai on Friday announced that its latest sedan, the 2017 Elantra, will launch later this month with support for both Apple CarPlay and Google's Android Auto.
The smartphone integration will be available on models with either a 7- or 8-inch touchscreen system, the latter including separate navigation options and an improved homescreen. To trigger Siri or Google voice commands while a phone is connected, drivers will only need to hit a button on the steering wheel.
Since the vehicle's CarPlay support depends on a Lightning connection, a second USB port will be present for charging other devices.
Hyundai didn't offer any immediate details on pricing. It did, however, add that it will soon reveal details on other vehicles with CarPlay and Android Auto support, and how people can update some existing cars.
The company created some controversy recently when it said that a promised free CarPlay upgrade for Sonatas will now cost extra. The upgrade is already over a year late, and Sonatas have had access to Android Auto at no charge.


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This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), the world’s pre-eminent manufacturer of electric vehicles, is facing a veritable volley from its competitors amid the deteriorating optics surrounding the ongoing NHTSA investigation.
Back in August, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) dropped a proverbial bombshell when its Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) initiated an evaluation of Tesla’s Autopilot system following a series of troubling accidents. The NHTSA had initially identified 11 distinct incidents of concern related to crashes involving a Tesla vehicle. Later on, a 12th incident was added to this ominous list.
Readers should note that the investigation may plod along for months, with this added uncertainty acting as a conduit for further weakness in Tesla shares. Depending on the severity of the findings, Tesla may be forced to fundamentally alter its Autopilot system or disable it altogether. Bear in mind that Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system, dubbed the Autopilot, has recently gone through a major overhaul, with the company abandoning the radar sensor in favor of eight cameras.
This brings us to the crux of the matter. Luminar (NASDAQ:LAZR), one of the leading manufacturers of LiDAR devices, has now published a video on YouTube that showcases its integrated hardware and software solution, dubbed the “Proactive Safety” feature:
Bear in mind that, as per Tesla’s own admission during its AI Day event, the Autopilot system is currently being hampered by two factors: temporary blockage of the cameras’ field of view and faulty memory of road signs. Nonetheless, Tesla engineers are trying to tackle these issues by utilizing a spatial recurring network video module to train the AI to keep track of spatial as well as chronal queues. In the meantime, as is evident from the video above, Luminar is trying to exploit the faltering confidence in the Autopilot system by showcasing the enhanced safety afforded by its “Proactive Safety” feature.
We had noted in a previous post that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) functionality, a feature of the Autopilot system that the company retails as a separate add-on for a $10,000 lump-sum amount or $199 per month subscription, is a misnomer at this stage. According to Tesla’s own admission to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the Autopilot is an SAE Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance System, while a true FSD capability would be equivalent to Level 5 autonomy.
How Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Is Trying To Contain the Fallout From the NHTSA Investigation
Tesla is currently pursuing a multi-pronged approach to curtail the deteriorating optics resulting from the ongoing NHTSA investigation and to fend off the emboldened attacks by its competitors.
Firstly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted that the FSD Beta version 10.1 would start rolling out in September. Bear in mind that the FSD Beta version 9.2 was plagued with a number of problems, including one where the Autopilot ignored road barriers and tried to drive through them:
— Bagguley (@bagguley) August 21, 2021
In fact, Musk had himself cast aspersions on the FSD 9.2 beta, terming it “not great.” Hopefully, the company would be able to address this issue in the Beta 10.1 update.
Secondly, the company is looking to launch a $25,000 Model 2 without a steering wheel, opting to utilize the complete capabilities of the Autopilot’s FSD:
Hola, please find the unroll here: I was told by a few sources that Elon is holding a Tesla all hands… https://t.co/nLARDYtot7 Enjoy 🙂 🤖
— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) September 5, 2021
Nonetheless, given that Tesla’s FSD is still a Level 2 ADAS, I would not put much stock in this announcement at this stage.
Thirdly, Tesla has also announced a Robo Van, presumably a fully automated van, without revealing its launch date. Fourthly, the company has now provided additional clarity regarding the launch of the Cybertruck. To wit, the much-anticipated competitor to the Ford F-150 Lightning is now expected to debut toward the end of 2022, with volume production commencing in 2023.
Readers should note that Musk has a tendency to overpromise and underdeliver. Consequently, we would urge caution when it comes to the Tesla Model 2 launching without a steering wheel or the just-announced Robo Van.
However, by directing the focus of investors away from the NHTSA investigation, these announcements have played an important obfuscating role. Additionally, these charged announcements might also be construed as a message to Tesla’s competitors: yes, we are down but by no means out of the arena.


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Venture capitalist Tim Draper is doubling down on his prediction that Bitcoin (BTC) will go parabolic to $250,000 sooner than others predict. In a new interview with CNBC, he said he is adding six months to his previous growth forecast, which put the top crypto asset at six figures by the end of 2022, according to Daily Hodl.
“I have extended my prediction by six months. $250,000 is still my number.”
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $17,069. Draper said there are several reasons why Bitcoin could go on the potential bull run of about 1,370% from its current price. He said that women are currently an untapped demographic for cryptocurrency and could help lift the price of BTC if they are more involved.
“My assumption is that, since women control 80% of retail spending and only one in seven Bitcoin wallets are currently held by women, the dam is about to break.”
Draper also says that retailers are likely to begin to take advantage of having to pay fewer fees by accepting payments in cryptocurrencies instead of using traditional banking payment systems that charge higher fees per transaction.
“Retailers will save roughly 2% on every purchase made in Bitcoin vs dollars. Once retailers realize that 2% can double their profits, Bitcoin will be ubiquitous.”
Another factor that could boost the price of Bitcoin is the next halving event scheduled for 2024, Draper said. The halving reduces the reward of Bitcoin miners by limiting the supply.
In addition, Draper predicts a future of Bitcoin payments for life’s basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.
Draper, an early investor in Bitcoin, paid $18.7 million to buy 29,656 BTC in 2014 from US marshals who confiscated it on the Silk Road darknet market.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
We appreciate your readership! Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
About the Author
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.


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As promised, Walmart has started doing fully driverless box truck deliveries in partnership with startup Gatik between its own locations on a fixed 7-mile loop, the companies announced. Despite those limitations, the route in Bentonville, Arkansas involves "intersections, traffic lights and merging on dense urban roads," the companies said. It's another shot of good news for the progress of self-driving vehicles after GM's cruise launched its self-driving taxis into testing last week.
The Gatik trucks are bringing grocery orders from a Walmart fulfilment center (dark store) to a nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store in Bentonville, the host city of the company's headquarters. The route covers the "middle mile" transportation of goods between warehouses and stores. The program effectively got launched following the December 2020 approval by the Arkansas State Highway Commission, and has been driverless since this summer.
The new service is part of Walmart's transition to a hub-and-spoke model with warehouses or fulfilment centers closer to customers. Doing so means smaller warehouses, so "there is a growing need for doing repeated trips from the fulfilment centers to the pickup points," Gatik CEO Gautam Narang told CNBC. "That's where we come in."
Walmart isn't the first superstore to go fully driverless, as Kroger teamed up with self-driving startup Nuro for grocery deliveries back in 2018. However, at launch, Nuro's delivery vehicles were tiny microvans, while Walmart and Gatik are using full-sized box trucks.
Walmart and Gatik are running similar trials around New Orleans with electric box trucks, delivering directly to a customer pickup location. However, those are currently being operated with safety drivers aboard, so the Arkansas trial is the first truly driverless route. "Our deployment in Bentonville is not a one-time demonstration," said Narang. "These are frequent, revenue-generating, daily runs that our trucks are completing safely in a range of conditions on public roads, demonstrating the commercial and technical advantages of fully driverless operations on the middle mile."


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Gov. Nixon breaks ground on new corporate headquarters for Freightquote.com in Kansas City
Gov. Jay Nixon joined city and company leaders in breaking ground on a new corporate headquarters in Kansas City for the nation's largest online freight broker, Freightquote.com, on Aug. 14, 2012. The rapidly growing company will construct a new state-of-the-art headquarters and office facility at its new Missouri location.
August 14, 2012


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A new app, OnPrime TV, developed by Cisco in collaboration with Sky and supported by Encompass Digital Media, is now available in the UK, Italy and Germany on Apple TV. Viewers can now access Sky South Asian, Sky Arabic and Sky Russian channel packs, downlinked and encoded by Encompass.
The service uses the Cisco Infinite Video Platform, and the app can be downloaded via the app store on Apple TV4, or by searching for OnPrime TV on Apple TV3.
Channel packs are available on a 30-day free trial, and range in price from £8.99 ($11) to £17.99 ($22.25) a month. Cisco plans to expand the service to more devices and additional European countries during this year.


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The broadband telephony market will nearly double in size from 14.7 million subscribers in 2007 to 28.4 million lines in 2013, according to new projections from Jupiter Research.
Cable operators will see most of this increase, with their VoIP subscriber base nearly doubling during the forecast period, while growth for over-the-top VoIP providers will stagnate.
The emergence of new service offerings, such as those from AT&T and Skype, will continue to generate buzz within the market.
According to a new Jupiter Research report, ‘US Broadband Telephony Forecast, 2008 to 2013’, cable multiple system operators (MSOs) have maintained momentum in the voice service market by continuing to focus on competitive triple-play service bundles.
Of consumers who subscribe to a cable MSO-managed VoIP service, 47 percent said bundling had a strong influence on their selection of home phone service provider.
President of Jupiter Research, David Schatsky, said, "Broadband telephony enables fixed service providers to integrate voice service features with other bundled services such as broadband, TV or wireless.
“At a time when consumers are increasingly cutting the cord and relying solely on wireless for voice communication, broadband telephony offers the best opportunity for fixed service providers to retain current voice customers or acquire new ones."
Despite having a moderate impact on the VoIP market overall, the emergence of AT&T's U-verse Voice is an important market development.
"By rolling out a managed VoIP service in areas where it already offers circuit-switched voice service, AT&T validates the importance of integrated services across the bundle," explained Doug Williams, Analyst and lead author of the report for Jupiter Research.
"However, AT&T may find it challenging to migrate existing voice customers to the VoIP platform, as those customers place greater emphasis on service quality and reliability when selecting a home telephone service provider."
Looking ahead, JupiterResearch observes a few wild card scenarios that could shake up the market for broadband telephony, namely the potential for Verizon to migrate all services including voice within its FiOS bundles to an IP platform, as well as new product offerings such as the Skype phone, which de-couples Skype's voice chat service from the PC and T-Mobile's new "@Home" over-the-top VoIP offer for $10 per month.
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Massachusetts Sues Dealership Over Discriminatory Pricing of Black and Hispanic Consumers
A Massachusetts car dealership is at the center of a lawsuit brought forward by the state. The lawsuit alleges that the business discriminated against Black and Hispanic customers by overcharging them on services and products.
The lawsuit was filed in Essex County Superior Court and accuses Jaffarian Service Inc. of violating the state's Consumer Protection Act and the Public Accommodations Law by engaging in unfair, deceptive, and discriminatory price practices.
Attorney General Maura Healey shared in a statement, “Purchasing a vehicle is already a significant financial decision for many families and individuals — the last thing they should be worried about is unfairly paying more for a product because of their race or national origin.”
According to the lawsuit, the car dealership sells vehicles as well as other related products and services which the lawsuit describes as “ancillary or add-on products.” According to the lawsuit, employees within the car dealership have “unfettered discretion in pricing ancillary products.”
The complaint goes on to explain that the dealership does not provide employees with “guidance, training, auditing, or supervision to prevent discrimination” when these ancillary or add-on products are sold. Instead, the dealership has a compensation model which incentivizes employees to increase the price they charge consumers as they see fit. As a result of this arbitrary pricing model, Black and Hispanic consumers are more likely to be charged higher prices for the same product than white customers. The complaint claims that “Jaffarian seeks and extracts disproportionately higher profits from Black and Hispanic consumers” and that “Jaffarian’s actions impede Black and Hispanic consumers' ability to participate fully and fairly in commerce, thereby contributing to the racial wealth gap.”
The complaint goes on to detail that because of this discriminatory behavior, Black and Hispanic customers pay an average of $500 more and $400 more respectively for the same products purchased by white customers. As a result of this discrepancy in pricing, the state accuses the dealership of pulling in over $170,000 in ill-gotten gains over the past two years.
The state is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties, restitution, and other fees as part of its lawsuit.


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Quebec-based Transit will now distribute three brake pad lines from AmeriBrakes.
The AmeriPro, AmeriPlatinum and Severe Duty are designed to original equipment requirements.
AmeriBrakes, which has been around for more than 75 years manufactures its products in Canada to reduce its ecological footprint by having shorter transport travel distances. Its products also comply with the 2025 regulation on the use of copper-free ceramic materials.
“With the supply chain disruptions of recent years, we wanted to regain control over lead times by sourcing locally to better protect our customers’ sales,” explained Transit president Stephan Guay. “We chose AmeriBrakes products because they are renowned for their high quality, which we were able to confirm with internal testing. I am confident that our customers will appreciate these premium brake pads.”


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Coty Elevates Advertising Over Promotion In Consumer Beauty Reboot
Historically, Coty has been too dependent on promotion versus advertising and shy about taking pricing – but no longer, says CEO Pierre Laubies. Along with strategic innovation and portfolio optimization, stronger advertising behind leading brands is key to re-energizing the firm’s Consumer Beauty business, the exec said, noting, “Our consumers need to be reminded permanently of the strength of our brands.”
You may also be interested in...
The world’s third-largest beauty company is changing direction following an acquisition tear in recent years, now exploring strategic options for its Professional hair care/salon and Brazilian businesses to reduce debt and sharpen its focus on Luxury and Consumer fragrance, makeup and skin care. The 21 October announcement has lifted Coty’s stock roughly 18%, though analyst takes are mixed.
Coty purchased a 60% stake in Younique in early 2017, touting the startup as “one of the most engaging and fastest-growing e-commerce companies in beauty.” However, growth in the social-selling business has slowed over the past year and “presenter” levels have declined despite enhancements to Younique’s compensation program, making it an not-so-surprising discard in Coty’s simplification effort.
The firm’s “realistic” four-year plan, unveiled 1 July, is designed “to build a better business … while we gradually prepare for growth.” The turnaround effort is expected to cost Coty $600m over the 2020-2023 period and includes a $3bn impairment charge, largely within its ailing Consumer Beauty unit, to be recorded in fiscal 2019.


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How MarkMonitor helped Nissan slam the brakes on counterfeiting
The global automotive industry suffers significantly at the hands of counterfeiters. According to Frost and Sullivan, the global automotive industry loses close to $45 billion annually through counterfeit goods. With customer safety being the number one objective for the automotive industry, this is a significant concern.
For a company like Nissan this presents a wealth of other issues, brand confusion being one of them. Some sellers of aftermarket parts misrepresented them in online marketplaces and on rogue websites as genuine OEM parts, and many listings and websites also contained invalid warranty statements. Counterfeit parts also posed a major product liability risk; these parts look similar to genuine Nissan parts and can quite easily be installed in a car, with the potential to cause serious damage if they fail. The final cost of counterfeit parts can often exceed any savings off the OEM part price many times over.
To help combat these issues, Nissan enrolled in a back-to-back pilot program with MarkMonitor in September 2013 and officially launched an online brand protection partnership with the company in March of 2014. This work has involved the MarkMonitor team becoming a consultant and partner with Nissan, and has helped them to partner with other manufacturers across the auto industry. It has also supported them to host a series of automotive manufacturing calls so that the companies can speak with a unanimous voice on the threat consumers face from counterfeit parts that put drivers and their families in harm’s way.
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- Nissan and MarkMonitor remove thousands of counterfeit auto parts from the global marketplace
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By working with MarkMonitor, the highly engaged Nissan team accomplished several major goals: increasing customer safety, decreasing domain abuse for the Nissan and Infiniti brands, identifying and addressing brand abuse in website content, demonetizing of pay-per-click sites, decreasing brand confusion, and significantly reducing counterfeit listings on multiple marketplace platforms globally.
In terms of figures, Nissan’s MarkMonitor-assisted brand protection strategy helped to successfully remove over 31,700 counterfeit Nissan products, and to enforce over 125,000 marketplace listings which had a total advertised value of over $283 million. Nissan was also able to conduct successful enforcement activities in Asian marketplaces with the help of the Shanghai-based MarkMonitor team, while utilising MarkMonitor relationships and contacts for accuracy and efficiency.
Nissan has always been a lucrative target for brandjackers due to its strong market position and brand leadership, but its work with MarkMonitor means it can now detect the sale of counterfeit Nissan goods online and then educate the dealers about the potential hazards of using these counterfeit parts. “We decided to address what we were seeing in the marketplaces. Within weeks we were delisting counterfeit items as well as educating sellers who had no idea they were infringing,” said Andy Forsythe, part of Nissan’s brand protection team.
On top of all this, and as a direct result of Nissan’s work with MarkMonitor, pay-per-click sites that have ‘Nissan’ in the domain name are prohibited from containing sponsored links. MarkMonitor’s collaborative efforts have helped to aggressively combat online counterfeiting, and to demonstrate the ROI of using these solutions to protect the Nissan brand.
By Chrissie Jamieson, VP Marketing, MarkMonitor, a brand of Clarivate Analytics


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We don't hear too much about a bacteria called Listeria but when we do, it's usually big news because thousands can become infected and some can die -- even if the bacteria is contained on just one farm. Technically called Listeria monocytogenes, this bacteria can be found in soil so fruits and vegetables are often the foods that become contaminated.
However, animals can also carry Listeria, thus the spread of the bacteria can be in meats and dairy products, especially foods that are undercooked, raw, unwashed or unpasteurized.
As with many bacterial infections, people with compromised or weakened immune systems are most at risk. The very young and old, pregnant women or people already ill with other conditions (particularly those with AIDS, cancer or diabetes) are more susceptible than stronger people already in good health.
According to EmpowHER's Listeria page:
an estimated 2,500 persons become seriously ill with listeriosis each year. Of these, 500 die. At increased risk are:
■ Pregnant women - about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis (About one-third of listeriosis cases happen during pregnancy)
■ Newborns - suffer the serious effects of infection in pregnancy
■ Persons with weakened immune systems
■ Persons with cancer, diabetes, or kidney disease
■ Persons with AIDS - almost 300 times more likely to get listeriosis than people with normal immune systems
■ Persons who take glucocorticosteroid medications
■ The elderly
Right now, contaminated cantaloupe is the culprit for an outbreak of Listeria in America. The cantaloupe was grown on land owned by Jensen Farms' fields in Granada, Colorado. These cantaloupes were transported to many states, from California to Florida to Illinois.
A CNN report stated that labels with "Product of USA-Frontera Produce-Colorado Fresh-Rocky Ford-Cantaloupe, or a gray, yellow, and green sticker that says: Jensen Farms-Sweet Rocky Fords" on them should not be eaten. Jensen Farms also exports their cantaloupe and while not naming where, they said they have notified every country of the possibility of contamination.
This outbreak of Listeria is the biggest America has seen in the last decade.
While cooking food properly, eating only pasteurized dairy and washing raw foods thoroughly can help eliminate the risk of Listeria, there is no guarantee that this will eliminate all risks.
Listeria grows well in cool temperatures so refrigeration will not guard against the bacteria. Regular hand-washing can help to stop the spread.
Jensen Farms has stated they are doing everything to make sure no questionable products leave their plant and that they have notified all the potentially affected parties.
If people believe they may have eaten contaminated foods, they need to know that symptoms can take weeks or even months to show. Symptoms include headache, flu-like symptoms including fever, chills, muscle pain, diarrhea and stiff neck.
Pregnant women can go into premature labor. The risk of infection is high and giving birth to a stillborn baby is possible. Pregnant women need to be careful with their diet and call their doctor immediately if they suspect they may have been exposed to foods that may have contained Listeria. Antibiotics can be administered to those infected with this bacteria, particularly women who are pregnant.
Jensen Farms stopped shipping their cantaloupe two weeks ago but authorities fear the fruit may still be in the refrigerators of many, therefore the adage of "if it doubt, throw it out" applies.
EmpowHER.com. Listeria. Web. Sept. 29, 2011. https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/listeriosis
CNN.com. Tainted cantaloupes linked to 13 deaths, public health officials say. Web. Sept. 29. 2011.
Reviewed September 30, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith


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Emily Ratajkowski recently published a story on her Instagram account with a picture of her as a blonde. Check out the video above to see just how different she looks!
Emily Ratajkowski is not done surprising us. After trying out a ‘shag’ cut, an ultra trendy style since the beginning of 2019, this time she unveiled a brand new beauty enhancement. In a story posted on her Instagram @emrata account, the top model published a photo where she is showing off blonde hair. But it seems that this change, which can only be seen in a story, is actually not all it seems...
Check out the video above to see how different she looks as a blonde!
Photo credit: Instagram @parisestchic


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Twilio has been called the mightiest unicorn, and we think that may be true. Twilio is a cloud communication company that has attached itself to some of the biggest businesses that you use everyday. From Uber to Walmart, the cloud company is a developer’s dream, merging telecommunications, cloud and web services. Co-founder and CEO Jeff Lawson has had an interesting entrepreneurial journey to creating a billion dollar company, and MillionaireMatch has the scoop.
Twilio is Lawson’s fourth company that he has started. In 1996, he came up with the idea to launch Notes4Free.com, eventually transforming to Versity.com. It was an online business that gave college students lecture notes. Lawson admits he was curious about the internet, so he started an online business. It went so well he dropped out of school, and moved the company to the Bay area after raising capital. He grew the company to a $30 million valuation and sold it later to a competitor. Unfortunately, the company tanked due to the dot-com crash. That’s when he went on to help with starting StubHub.
Lawson worked at StubHub as chief Technology Officer. After working 20 hour days for weeks, he realized he lacked passion for a company built around live events. He left the company and ran off to the Hamptons to brainstorm for a full year. He had a thousand ideas and twenty business plans. In 2008, Twilio launched.
“Trust is the number one thing you sell as a company,” Lawson said. This is one principle he believes Twilio offers: trust. “We started Twilio to really bring communications from that legacy of hardware to its future in software. Developers are going to build this software's future,” he said. They focused on connecting with developers and building their trust. If they could win them over, developers would bring Twilio in as a tool. “Friction is the thing that inhibits experimentation. Experimentation is the prerequisite to innovation.” Lawson said they wanted to remove friction for developers, because innovation leads to new customers.
“We haven’t changed our business model for years. We’ve been scaling up a similar model. For us, it was about was trying to align the pricing and business value to the audience,” Lawson shared. “As the founder you have the opportunity to control the values,” he continued. So why did Twilio go public? “I wanted to take the company to the next level,” Lawson said. “If you raise venture capital, you’re making a commitment to your investors that you are going to give them a return if the business works out. That means one of two things: get acquired or going public," he added.
His advice to younger entrepreneurs is simple. “Do what you say you are going to do. That’s how to get people on board,” Lawson said.
If you haven’t used Twilio, then head over to www.twilio.com.


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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – If your weekly trip to the grocery store is quite a trek, you are not the only one in such a situation. A new study finds that many Missourians in both cities and rural areas find themselves living in “food deserts,” meaning that residents have to travel 10 miles or more to find a supermarket.
The Food Trust report says improving access to markets would improve health, as well as create jobs and revenue for communities. According to program manager Miriam Minon, people living in under-served counties eat fewer fruits and vegetables and are more apt to be overweight.
“Residents are likely to experience high rates of diet-related disease, things like diabetes, obesity.”
Even when small stores are nearby, the report notes that they’re not always stocked with a variety of fresh and healthy foods.
The study makes recommendations on how to help communities open and support local grocery stores.
Minon says there are a number of successful models that pull together both private and public interests, and the Trust is working on setting up a program in Missouri. She says it would be similar to the Fresh Food Financing Initiative in Pennsylvania, which helps developers overcome some of the high initial investment costs.
“The program has been able to get stores to open all across the state in previously under-served areas and to help existing grocers who are interested in expanding their offerings.”
Minon says improving access isn’t a silver bullet to improve eating habits, but it is an important factor in reducing obesity.
More information is at www.thefoodtrust.org.