text:
Have you set up a Yahoo id as a back up email address but haven't used it for a while? Where tonight there's a warning you need to know! Yahoo plans to recycle Yahoo user IDs that have been inactiveMore >>
If you haven't used yours in a while it may be in jeopardy of falling in someone else's hands.More >>
Tuesday, May 7 2013 9:35 PM EDT2013-05-08 01:35:30 GMT
Election day is well underway as voters head to the polls to choose a new congressman or woman. Being a special election, polls are expected to be relatively busy, but election officials are not expectingMore >>
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has redeemed a political career sidelined by scandal by winning his old congressional seat. Sanford defeated Elizabeth Colbert Busch Tuesday in the state's 1st Congressional District.More >>
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - It seems that with every keystroke and every click of the mouse, someone is tracking you online. Whether it's your phone, your tablet, or even your web browser. We have givenMore >>
More web browser companies are offering a "do not track" option to protect customers privacy.More >>
Wednesday, September 12 2012 9:03 AM EDT2012-09-12 13:03:55 GMT
Those who bought into timeshare properties are quickly finding they were not the "investment" many were led to believe. Now hundreds are practically giving their timeshares away to get out from under the fees. More >>
Those who bought into timeshare properties are quickly finding they were not the "investment" many were led to believe. Now hundreds are practically giving their timeshares away to get out from under the fees.More >>
(Columbia) Nov. 19, 2004 - There's a website that WIS anchor Judi Gatson always check first before she buys anything online. It's called Naughty Codes.com.
Online stores send out discount codes to select groups of customers. That used to leave the rest of us paying full price, but not anymore. The website finds and lists all sorts of coupon and promotional codes and makes them available to you for free.
Old Navy has a code for free shipping. A code listed for Babies R Us offers a $10 discount. Dell has codes that will give you anywhere from $200 to $450 off a notebook computer and another code for 15% off a digital camera.
Search for a naughty discount to see if you can find some real deals before you do any shopping online.


text:
A roundup of key developments in the world of cruise, from December 14, 2020. Presented by Holly Payne, with special thanks to the Port of Tarragona!
Read the full stories:
1. NCLH proposes $500m private sale of senior notes due 2026: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance/nclh-proposes-500m-private-sale-senior-notes-due-2026
2. Windstar delays to May, drops 2021 Alaska plans, US, Mexico ports: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/windstar-delays-may-drops-2021-alaska-plans-us-mexico-ports
3. Trans-Tasman bubble gets the nod, but not for cruise ships yet: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/trans-tasman-bubble-gets-nod-not-cruise-ships-yet
4. Hearing adjourned on New Zealand volcano eruption that killed Ovation cruisers: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/legal-regulatory/hearing-adjourned-new-zealand-volcano-eruption-killed-ovation-cruisers
5. MSC resolves to end to single-use plastic by close of 2021: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/msc-resolves-end-single-use-plastic-close-2021
6. US lawmakers press CDC for cruise industry COVID-19 response records: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/legal-regulatory/us-lawmakers-press-cdc-cruise-industry-covid-19-response-records
With special thanks to Tarragona Cruise Port Costa Daurada.

domain: news


text:
Pininfarina’s New All-Electric Battista Hypercar Is Now In The Making
Pininfarina has announced that its Battista electric sports car has entered series production at its atelier in the Piedmont region of Italy.
The uber-sleek vehicle, which costs £1.7 million, is being produced in a dedicated 7,546-square-foot space located at the company’s Cambiano headquarters. A team of 10 craftspeople will build each Battista, with each EV taking around 1,250 hours to complete.
The Battista is set to boast an all-electric powertrain that can pump out 1,900 hp, with Pininfarina calling it the “world’s first pure-electric hyper GT.”
“The Battista hyper GT is the realisation of a dream, which began with design icon Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina’s ambition to create a beautiful car bearing only the Pininfarina name,” commented Pininfarina CEO Per Svantesson.
“We are proud to have achieved that goal and in doing so, we lead a movement into an exciting new luxury era, where design purity and a focus on sustainable innovations will shape a series of incredible new vehicles from Automobili Pininfarina.”


text:
After rumours that high street giant Argos had dropped its MyTablet, it now appears that, er, it has.
A report on Hudluser.com quotes a customer service rep from Argos saying that its Bush MyTablet pink and its Bush MyTablet silver have been discontinued. more»
In the buildup to Christmas it seems that the hot item for Santa’s stocking are tablets.
That’s according to nevouchercodes.co.uk, which today reports there’s an 18 percent increase for people searching for tablets.
But the white box buys may not fare so well, because the company says most of the searches are for iPads, Samsung Galaxy tablets and Amazon Kindles. more»
For some time now, eBay has been pushing discussion about the future of etail, the high street, and how brick and mortar will intersect with online shopping – now, in a bold move, the company has joined up with Argos in a bid to offer the best of both worlds. more»
While the humble desktop PC emits a death rattle across Europe, consumers are flocking to tablets – devices which tend to be much more comfortable to keep on your lap when channel surfing.
According to analyst house Context, tablet sales have increased an enormous 350 percent in a single year, proving a boon to retailers who had the foresight to invest in the devices. more»
Argos is planning to launch a contract phone offer and go toe to toe with Tesco Mobile and Asda Mobile. The retail giant will trial its service by offering online contract deals and phones in more than 200 stores across the UK starting in April. more»


text:
Blog: UFKT plans Let's Make it Here re-launch
Katie Smith | 5 September 2013
The UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) is to re-launch its database of UK apparel manufacturers in November.
Let's Make it Here, which profiles UK textile manufacturers, will feature extensive category listings including garments, accessories, fabric, footwear, yarn, components, ancillary equipment, and service providers.
The database is designed for companies who own production facilities in the UK and can manufacture for designers, brands and retailers to their own specifications and their own label.
Any firm who is seeking UK manufacturers will be able to use the database to search for companies who can supply services such as pattern cutting or grading for free.
An improved search functionality and a detailed google map search by UK postcode will also be featured on the revamped site, according to UKFT.
"We think this improved resource is vital for the industry which is demanding more and more UK made products," UKFT said.
Over the past month, Donald Trump and his team failed to offer any clear plan to ensure Americans would "Buy American, Hire American" - while the British government's attempts to clarify the specifics...
The Bangladesh government was forced to respond late last week to pressure over its crackdown on labour activists after a number of global brands and retailers, including H&M and Inditex announced pla...
A new project has been launched to improve the productivity, competiveness and sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in China's Guangdong Province that supply international brands....
Fresh from their disappointment at seeing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal abandoned last month with an executive order by President Donald Trump, the US apparel and footwear sector...
With the ultimate aim of ensuring all the cotton in its products is sourced sustainably, value clothing retailer Primark is adamant that having a business model focused on offering the lowest prices o...
- Digitalisation and data to disrupt supply chains
- EU eyes mandatory due diligence for apparel supply
- Unlocks for the future fashion sourcing landscape
- What TTIP might mean for US, EU textiles & apparel
- Geo-political uncertainty and how to survive it
- Li & Fung forms supply chain partnership with PVH
- US Q4 in brief – Finish Line, Oxford Industries
- Big data to help US firms improve clothing fit
- Levi Strauss and ILO probe Cambodia factory death
- Sustainable fashion app to help shopping decisions
- Central and East Europe Report Package
- Central America strategic sourcing review - a focus on Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras
- Southeast Asia strategic sourcing review – a focus on Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar
- REPORT BUNDLE: Africa-Med, Southeast Asia and Central America strategic sourcing pack
- When Things Go Wrong - A Practical Guide to Managing Common Problems in Apparel Sourcing


text:
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Entertainment/GettyImages
Body positivity has been a huge topic in recent years, with individuals sharing incidents ranging from being shamed for their physique to having their perceived “flaws” airbrushed out of media images. Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o has raised awareness that there is such thing as “beauty shaming” — which is just as concerning as body shaming — after a photographer digitally altered photographs of her hair for a magazine cover.
The star noticed her “kinky, coily hair” had been edited out and replaced with a smoother look, which she tweeted “fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like.” Looking at the before-and-after photos, it’s hard to deny that she has a point.
An Le, who shot the Grazia magazine cover in question, has issued an apology for the “incredibly monumental mistake.” But his actions are part of a much larger problem — namely the emphasis on promoting certain standards of beauty over others.
“I realize now what an incredibly monumental mistake I have made, and I would like to take this time to apologize to Ms. Nyong’o and everyone else that I did offend,” the photographer explained in a statement. “Though it was not my intention to hurt anyone, I can see now that altering the image of her hair was an unbelievably damaging and hurtful act.”
He went on to say that altering the image was “not born out of any hate, but instead out of my own ignorance and insensitivity to the constant slighting of women of color throughout the different media platforms. There is no excuse for my actions. I deeply regret the pain I’ve caused Ms. Nyong’o, a woman I’ve admired for quite some time now.”
Nyong’o initially shared her disappointment in a poignant Instagram post along with photos of both the edited and unedited photos. “Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture,” the Oscar winner wrote.
If there’s anything we have learned in the past few years, it’s that it’s important to accurately portray diversity in beauty — which comes in all shapes, sizes, genders and ethnicities.
According to a study conducted by Dove, women are more than twice as likely to say that their conception of beauty is shaped by women in the public domain and social media than they were before they entered high school. Since the media is so influential in defining our opinion of beauty, depicting it in an all-embracing manner breeds healthier people.
What’s awesome is that the world is listening and change is happening. Recently, Kmart did its part to remove the “plus size” stigma, replacing it with the catchy term “Fabulously Sized” in its “I Can” campaign. Fashion-industry folks like Vogue, LVMH and even Paris Fashion Week have banned the use of super-skinny models. Fashion houses have been using transgender models on the runway and in advertising campaigns, and magazines have been splashing them on covers. Even anti-chafing thigh bands modeled by realistic-looking beauties were featured on the runway of New York Fashion Week this year.
Let’s all take a cue from Lupita in openly and unapologetically speaking out about both body and beauty shaming.
Read more: Here’s Why Women on Social Media Are Posting 200-Pound Weight-Loss Photos
Read more: Why donna karan’s Comments Are Harmful to Women
What Do YOU Think?
Do you feel like beauty shaming is an important issue? Does the media accurately and fairly depict beauty in a diverse way? How can we make changes at a personal level?


text:
PHNOM PENH — At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday when police using stun batons moved in to end a protest over pay at a factory that makes clothing for US sportswear company Nike, a worker and a trade union representative said.
Police with riot gear were deployed to move about 3,000 mostly female workers who had blocked a road outside their factory owned by Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing in Kampong Speu province, west of the capital, Phnom Penh.
A Nike spokeswoman in the United States told Reuters by e-mail that the company was “concerned” about the allegations and was investigating. Nike requires contract manufacturers to respect employees’ rights to freedom of association, the spokeswoman added.
Sun Vanny, president of the Free Trade Union (FTU) at Sabrina, told Reuters the injured included a woman who was two months pregnant and who had lost her child after military police pushed her to the ground.
“There was a pregnant woman among them. She lost blood and then she lost the baby,” he said.
According to the International Monetary Fund, garments accounted for 75 percent of Cambodia’s total exports of $5.22 billion in 2011.
Low-cost labor has attracted manufacturers making clothes and shoes for Western brands but strikes over pay and working conditions have become common.
This month, two workers were killed at a factory making running shoes for Asics when part of a warehouse fell in on them. Police revised down the original death toll of three given by a minister.
A series of deadly incidents at factories in Bangladesh, including the collapse of a building last month that killed more than 1,000 people, has focused global attention on safety in factories in Asia makes goods for Western companies.
Sun Vanny said the workers making the Nike clothing had been staging strikes and protests since May 21. They want the company, which employs more than 5,000 people at the plant, to give them $14 a month to help pay for transport, rent and health care costs on top of their $74 minimum wage.
“Police used an electric baton to hit me on the head and if other workers hadn’t pulled me away, I would be dead,” Leng Pros, a 28-year-old male worker, told Reuters from his hospital bed. “I didn’t know what happened next, I fell to the ground.”
Police and military police officials declined to comment on the clash, saying they were still collecting reports.
Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok and Phil Wahba in New York.


text:
Populous India is Popular India
India is suddenly getting a lot of attention because it is the populous nation in the world, what does it mean?
In 1951, India conducted its first census. Since then, every 10 years like clockwork India has been conducting its census. The Indian census is quite an affair, superseded only by the election in the breadth of logistical and operational challenges that it poses. No undertaking in the world is more complex than the Indian elections.
The last census was conducted in 2011.
Spread across 28 states and 8 union territories, the census covered 640 districts, 5,924 sub-districts, 7,935 towns and more than 600,000 villages. A total of 2.7 million officials visited households in 7,935 towns and 600,000 villages, classifying the population according to gender, religion, education and occupation. The cost of the exercise was approximately ₹2,200 crore (US$280 million) – this comes to less than $0.50 per person, well below the estimated world average of $4.60 per person. Conducted every 10 years, this census faced big challenges considering India's vast area and diversity of cultures and opposition from the manpower involved.
2.7 million officials! Just to put that in perspective, that is a little more than the population of Lithuania or half the population of Denmark.
Thanks to COVID-19, the census never happened in 2021 and is slated to take place sometime in October 2023.
In 2011, India’s population was 1.210 Billion.
In the intervening decade, the standards of living have gone up and
millions 500,000 officially were lost to COVID. Not to mention, the current government has done everything in its power to devastate all statistical bodies including the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). This was meant to manufacture growth number post demonetisation in 2016 which decimated the economy.
So much so that the RBI at one point, when it still had a governor with a spine, commented that the economic data had to be taken with a grain of salt and deemed it “somewhat unreliable”.
On 24th April somebody in the UN “projected” that the Indian population has surpassed that of China.
The latest estimates and projections of global population from the United Nations, indicate that China will soon cede its long-held status as the world’s most populous country. In April 2023, India’s population is expected to reach 1,425,775,850 people, matching and then surpassing the population of mainland China (figure 1).
India’s population is virtually certain to continue to grow for several decades. By contrast, China’s population reached its peak size recently and experienced a decline during 2022. Projections indicate that the size of the Chinese population will continue to fall and could drop below 1 billion before the end of the century.
Given all of the factors mentioned above, this must be taken with a large grain of salt. If this is true, India would have added the equivalent of the working adult population of the United States in the last 12 years.
India’s population is not radically different from what it was a month ago. It may have changed by a few thousand, but not all that much. It nevertheless seems to have had a huge psychological impact on businesses.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said he was very bullish on India and that was the reason why Apple was investing in retail and online stores in the country and putting out a significant amount of energy here.
Speaking on the post-pandemic opportunity in India in the first quarter earning call, he said, “We actually did fairly well through COVID in India and I’m even more bullish now, hopefully on the other side of it. I’m very bullish on India.’‘
Source: The Hindu
Apple does not offer many of its online services including Apple Fitness in India. India is one of the last countries where most of its products are released. Till 30 days ago, the company did not even have a company-owned store in India. But he is bullish.
Hospitality major Airbnb’s cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky is betting big on the Indian market and expects the country to be the startup’s biggest growth market in the current decade.
“From a business perspective, India is an exciting new market for us. We now have 1,000 employees there, and I believe it will be one of the biggest growth markets, if not the biggest, in this decade,” Chesky told The Economic Times.
Noting that India is well poised to have the world’s biggest middle class in future, Chesky said that rising internet penetration and GDP would enable the company to build a ‘really important business’ in the country.
After one and a half decades, Airbnb figured out India exists! In India, Airbnb is the last place you turn to, to find lodging. But “Big Bets”.
US network gear maker Cisco today announced manufacturing plans for Tamil Nadu, India, as its chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins asserted that the company is bullish about India market and its prospects.
The company, in a statement, said it is targeting over USD 1 billion in combined exports and domestic production.
This is partly motivated by the need to hedge against China whose relationships are growing more and more frosty with the US. But at the same time, it is also the “largest nation” tag that is playing on their minds.
The fact is that the middle class in India is very different from the middle class in a developed country. A middle-class household in India has an average monthly salary of Rs 8000 ($95) per person per month. With that much money, let alone the iPhone, the household cannot afford the myriad connectors and cables one is forced to buy when one buys an iPhone.
The population that consumer brands end up targeting in India is about 10 million people. CRED an app that bills itself as one catering to the upper crest of India has 11.2 million users as of FY22.
Frankly, it does not matter whether we have the largest population or not. It is a great advertisement and it is causing many companies to take notice and try to include India in their roadmap if not for any other reason, to signal to the investors about avenues of growth.
In the late 90s, the young English-speaking population attracted global attention, which led to the outsourcing boom in India. It resulted in wealth creation for a lot of young graduates. Between the BPOs and KPOs, there were a lot of jobs to be had. It changed the face of India.
More than anything else, it changed what one could aspire to be. There were only three people who could run large businesses in 1980s India, Tata, Birla and Ambani. Come the 2000s not only did more people dare but also more of them found success.
The attention attracted by being the most populous nation alone has the potential to turn a possibility into a self-fulfilling prophecy.


text:
Apple released a new version of its set-top box just over a month ago. The new fourth generation Apple TV comes with important new features like the A8 processor, 2GB of RAM, the own App Store or Remote control Siri, which make him very different from previous versions major overhaul. Well, it seems that in Cupertino think it is not enough and it would be testing a small number of fifth-generation Apple TV, a model that also come with important developments with respect to the current version.
The information comes from Digitimes, citing the assembly line in Taiwan. The first units were and would manufacture in this December, starting mass production in early 2016. If true, it would be the first time that Apple renews its set-top box in such a short time, since until now always been renewed every 2-3 years. The question is what is the reason that Apple would be interested in launching this new version soon?
For now it’s just a rumor that can not be taken as official information, but it is expected that the new Apple TV will have a powerful processor which would enable it to improve its performance. If confirmed, it is possible that this new device is not an evolution of Apple TV 4, if not a kind of Pro or Plus model, so to speak.


text:
It’s been a few years since Google updated the Nexus 7, but the search giant may still be working with ASUS on a third-generation tablet. In a recent interview with Trusted Reviews, ASUS chairman and former CEO Jonney Shih hinted that the company may still release another 7-inch Nexus.
According to Shih, the real issue is simply deciding how to improve on what’s already a pretty great tablet. The original Nexus 7 turned heads thanks to its low price, while the sequel added a Full HD display and improved on the design. “But then the next one actually takes a lot of discussion,” he said, adding that we should “stay tuned.”
Of course there’s plenty ASUS and Google could do to improve on the Nexus 7. New specs and a sharper display are both obvious choices. We’d also like to see the tablet get a fingerprint reader, USB-C and maybe even a more premium design (assuming the price doesn’t go up too much as a result).
Whether anyone really wants a 7-inch slate anymore may be the bigger question ASUS needs to answer. Big-screened smartphones like the Nexus 6P mean the Nexus 7 no longer serves an obvious role. Even Google seems to be moving away from that market with its recent 10.2-inch Pixel C tablet.
We’d still love to see ASUS release a third-generation Nexus 7, though it will need to offer more than just upgraded specs to succeed. You can read the rest of the interview, which also touches on the company’s plans for future smartwatches and virtual reality, via the source link below.


text:
Something Navy Customers Aren’t Happy!
When someone asks me what Arielle Charnas has been up to—which happens more often than you’d think—I usually respond with the common AIM vernacular, “SOS,” aka “same old sh*t.” Because some sh*t just never changes! (To be fair, the controversy this time may have less to do with Charnas herself and more to do with her brand Something Navy’s employees, but I digress.)
The latest mini-scandal surrounds the brand’s much-hyped “first and only” sale this past Monday. Leading up to it, Charnas and the rest of the ~SN~ team encouraged customers to shop “early access” to get first dibs on the sale items.
But many customers complained that the ability to shop early was actually the worst—because the items weren’t marked as “final sale” until hours afterward. On top of that, sale prices were slashed significantly between Monday and Tuesday.
There’s been some Something Navy ~first and only ever SALE~ drama: apparently the items weren’t marked as final sale originally and customers were duped into thinking they could later make returns. One customer claims they only saw the “final sale” disclosure 8 hours later pic.twitter.com/lAw0zReQE1— Sophie Ross (@SophRossss) December 10, 2020
One shopper who wishes to remain anonymous told me she signed up for early access (which began shortly before the official sale launched at 11am ET). “Things were up to 30% off, there was no mention of final sale anywhere. I specifically looked for those words because obviously that’s common with sales.”
She said she bought her items and moved on—only to get an email from Something Navy the following morning that the items she bought had been slashed even further to 60% off. “One of the things I bought was discounted by a pretty meaningful amount,” she says. She contacted customer service only to be told her item was “final sale,” but she could “re-buy” it. (They eventually agreed to give her a price adjustment.)
If the comments on Something Navy’s Instagram are any indication, loyal followers of the brand—who may not have been able to charm SN customer service into getting a price adjustment—are pissed. (And for the record, I’d be pissed, too!) “So disappointed in you guys. You lost a customer for life with how you handled the sale. Your customers obviously mean nothing to you.”
One comment asks, “Are you going to address the fact that the sale items were not initially advertised as being final sale?” Something Navy responded that “there was a massive glitch where final sale did not render on every product detail page for a short period of time.”
Also—I thought everything always sells out? Why the need to slash sale prices even further? (Sarcasm.)
“This blogger/influencer/designer made her employees buy all of the launch of a new clothing line just so they could say the line sold out in an hour. The employees had to pay full price and will not be reimbursed.” pic.twitter.com/vDM9hfnrYg— Sophie Ross (@SophRossss) July 13, 2020
The brand also posted an IGTV entitled “A Candid Conversation About Motherhood” on Tuesday that featured Charnas and several of her fellow white, privileged employees and friends.
I’d go off on another tangent but I’m already over my word count, and these comments on the video articulate the issues here better than I possibly could:
“If you want to post about candid motherhood conversations, go speak to some non-white, non-upper class mothers and include their perspectives in this. Include moms who don’t have such a fairytale of an experience as you all seem to do.”
“It wouldn’t have been a stretch to include diversity in this conversation. It’s 2020, girls! You should make a checklist before you put out media to ensure you’re representing diverse viewpoints and experiences.”
“It would have been great to include a mother of color, a mother who maybe decided to have children later in life, a mother going through hardship due to a lost job (significant majority of America right now)... As a brand solely focused on Instagram followers with media attention—do better with your platform or take time to actually educate yourself on how to do so.”
“It’s the absolute lack of diversity for me.”
No, We’re Not Going to Fall for Olivia Jade’s Redemption Tour
I’ll never forget the chilly day in March 2019 when the news of Operation Varsity Blues broke. As someone who loves scams, scandals, and stupid celebrities, it was like a wet dream for me. (As a refresher: The FBI arrested dozens of wealthy, connected parents—including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman—for bribing coaches and administrators at colleges across the country to ensure their children would be accepted.)
"Operation Varsity Blues" was 2019's most penetrating entertainment scandal. 43% of Americans had seen, read or heard a lot about the scandal, which implicated actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin. https://t.co/UEmOx5o3i8https://t.co/mK5LYAPpTh— Morning Consult (@MorningConsult) December 7, 2020
Loughlin’s 19-year-old budding beauty influencer daughter—Olivia Jade Giannuli—saw her career come to a standstill after it was proven that she, in addition to her sister Bella, were involved in the dupe, apparently pretending they were skilled rowers in order to get “spots” on the University of Southern California team. (They both attended the school, but have not returned since the scandal).
And now, Olivia Jade is staging a comeback! But let’s not fall for it, folks.
After appearing on Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield Norris this week and expressing that she was “sorry” and just “confused” over the college application process, the YouTuber enjoyed a glowing review in Buzzfeed News. “Olivia Jade knows exactly how to apologize,” it reads.
Influencer Olivia Jade’s interview on Red Table Talk offers a good blueprint of what an effective apology tour looks like https://t.co/A1w3zTJCNR— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) December 10, 2020
Does she, though? Because we’re still not talking about the fact that Olivia literally posed on a rowing machine for photos. No one’s bringing this up! She posed on a rowing machine knowing she was perpetuating a giant lie, one that would ultimately help her get into USC, a school she had apparently admitted she had no business getting into, anyway—taking a coveted spot from someone whose parents don’t have $500,000 to bribe school administrators with.
why is no one asking about the rowing machine!!! https://t.co/55AN4YOJXa— Madison Malone Kircher (@4evrmalone) December 8, 2020
And now she’s attempting to get back into the public’s good graces by asking three Black women to do emotional labor and help revive her influencer career?
Can We Collectively Boycott This Movie?
Apparently TikTok star Addison Rae is starring in a remake of ‘90s classic She’s All That but this time, it’s called He’s All That, because Addison is going to be playing the attractive and popular one in the movie, do you get it?
And now Kourtney Kardashian is apparently acting in it alongside her, too.
Kourtney Kardashian is making her film debut in the remake of She’s All That starring her BFF Addison Rae https://t.co/Zk5ljxntRZ— Vulture (@vulture) December 9, 2020
Also, apparently the production company shut down a COVID-19 testing facility in order to film it. Yeah, no thank you!
A popular covid testing site in Los Angeles is being shut down on Tuesday — with scheduled appointments cancelled — because of a film shoot for the remake of SHE’s ALL THAT. https://t.co/gUXStiu6I2— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) December 1, 2020
I hate it here.


text:
Latest from Microsoft says that by June the company will stop the distribution of their encyclopedia Encarta. They’ll also quit the software including Student and Premium edition. They’ll shut down the website on October 31 worldwide and no one could again access it anymore but Encarta Japan will be available up to December 31, 2009.
Encarta speaks about their closing: “Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years. However, the category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed. People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past. As part of Microsoft’s goal to deliver the most effective and engaging resources for today’s consumer, it has made the decision to exit the Encarta business.” (From Encarta’s FAQ .Read it full here)
Microsoft may have to cut down their costs and must have thought this will be an excellent way, anyway nothing is heard about their Encarta employees, whether they lose their job or not.
Encarta which was published first in 1993 offered people thousands of articles and multimedia study materials including pictures, illustrations, atlas, video and music clips, home work tools and many more was available as online subscription and CDs and DVDs. It was a great blow to printed encyclopedia in the market including Britannica. But by the 21st century Encarta was almost dead for Wikipedia which gained wide popularity and launched by Wikimedia, which was completely free and non-profit! Even though Wikipedia has user-generated content, it was not widely misused with frauds, instead provided quality content for its members. Encarta to regain their hold invited contents from their members, but never published users’ content without checking it. With content updated every second Wikipedia became the most visited online encyclopedia.
After all Google’s Knol, Encyclopedia.com and other such websites must also have compelled Microsoft to take such a rock splitting decision


text:
APhA commended President Biden’s signing of the executive order in a press release, noting that adequate drug supply would be critical to ensuring pharmacists’ ability to provide care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 24, President Biden signed an Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains that details plans to establish more resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains for the greater economic prosperity and national security of the country.
The executive order also addressed this need within the pharmaceutical industry, stipulating that the Department of Health and Human Services would work with the appropriate pharmacy agencies to submit a report that will identify risks in the pharmaceutical supply chain, specifically related to finished drug products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), and critical safety items, such as personal protective equipment (PPE).
The order additionally clarified the need for the inclusion of policy recommendations in the report so that the Biden administration could identify actions to address any identified risks.
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) commended President Biden’s signing of the executive order in a press release, noting that adequate drug supply would be critical to ensuring pharmacists’ ability to provide care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In January 2021, APhA had joined the Pharmaceutical Supply and Payment Chain Coalition with the goal of bringing to the attention of the Biden administration the critical importance of the resilience and diversity of the pharmaceutical supply chain in the country to support US citizens during the pandemic.
Additionally, APhA explained in the press release that they would recommend a year-long review of the supply chains for the public health and biological preparedness industrial base, in addition to the announced 100-day review of the global API supply chain. This would support the continued supply of critical items, such as PPE, during this period, according to APhA.
The association added that the executive order signed by the Biden administration is an important step to ensuring the supply chain for pharmaceuticals and APIs is uninterrupted as the country continues to recover from the pandemic, noting that APhA is ready and willing to step in to assist the administration to support this process.
American Pharmacists Association Commends Executive Order to Strengthen Pharmaceutical Supply Chains. Washington, DC: American Pharmacists Association; February 25, 2021. [email] Accessed March 1, 2021.


text:
Green tea, oranges, grapes and lemons. An ordinary purchase indeed. But its introduction to the Checkout in Gloucestershire, UK has caused quite a stir.
Problem: Tea and fruits are imported, packed in plastic and packed in diesel cars after purchase. And the buyer? Besides Gail Bradbrook, one of the co-founders of the Climate Movement Doomsday Rebellion!
“She did everything Extinction Rebellion advises not to do,” says an onlooker who saw her shopping. “Buying fruit that flies around the world in non-recyclable packaging. Then drives home in a diesel engine. What a huge hypocrite,” he says to “The Sun”.
An eyewitness documented the shopping spree of a 50-year-old man who publicly campaigned against climate change with photos. They show climate activists with piles of plastic packaging at the local supermarket checkout.
British media reported that the fruit he bought came from Chile, Vietnam, Spain, Cyprus and Italy. In total, their food has traveled more than 28,000 kilometers. Best of all: Bradbrook’s purchase is vegan.
But not all plastics and imports sway their critics. Last photo taken by an eyewitness: It shows the activist boss getting into a diesel car.
“At least she wasn’t stopped by idiots plastered on the road on her way home,” says an eyewitness.
Meanwhile, activists from the Broadbrooks organization have already launched a major protest against climate change in London. Starting today, Friday, Extinction Rebellion will demonstrate alongside other climate organizations at the London Marathon. Up to 50,000 enthusiasts are expected.


text:
The best Manhattan shopping corridors continue to thrive.
Ground-floor asking rents on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 59th Streets have risen to $3,052 since the fall, a 13 percent increase, according to a study by the Real Estate Board of New York. However, no leases have been signed there since fall of 2012, the study pointed out. As reported in WWD Tuesday, Valentino will open at 693 Fifth Avenue, formerly occupied by Takashimaya, but that deal could have happened after the study was completed.
Are landlords being greedy and will they have to lower asking rents? “When rents seemed very high, landlords have found tenants willing to pay those prices,” said Mike Slattery, senior vice president of research at REBNY, adding that retailers believe they can be profitable. Retailers considering large sites for flagships may also take longer to make a decision and landlords have been willing to wait.
Times Square on Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th Streets had the biggest increase in asking rent since the fall, a 55 percent leap to $2,175, due to the limited supply of available square footage.
REBNY’s report of the city’s highest-profile shopping corridors for the last six months revealed increasing foot traffic and booming tourism — 52 million visitors last year. Those positive trends, along with the improving job market, contributed to higher asking rents.
The growing tech sector created demand downtown, while upscale residential development in Midtown brought calls for better shopping options.
Retailers have been pushing the boundaries of prime retail streets in an attempt to find more affordable real estate. There, too, rents continued to rise due to the dearth of space and the high cost of prime corridors.
Asking rents on Fifth Avenue south of 49th Street rose 7 percent to $1,092. Broadway in the Flatiron District climbed 18 percent to $322, and Bleecker Street between Seventh Avenue South and Hudson Street rose to $540, also an 18 percent increase.
“We’re seeing retailers being more amenable to locations,” Slattery said. “Those moves always entail a certain amount of risk, but they’re prudent risks. They feel their presence will be part of the [street’s] transformation.
“It will be interesting to see whether or not Fifth Avenue between 34th and 42nd Streets will have that kind of change,” Slattery said. “There’s a push to continue to find space. If 42nd Street is a dividing line, then maybe being south of 42nd Street isn’t so bad either.”
In terms of prime streets, asking rents for available ground-floor space on Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd Streets increased 36 percent to $1,325, since the fall. Fifth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets in the Flatiron District saw asking rents climb 18 percent to $413 since the fall. In the Meatpacking District, asking rents grew 10 percent, to $356. Broadway between Houston and Broome Streets in SoHo jumped 38 percent to $750, while Broadway between Battery Park and Chambers Street shot up 52 percent to $232, perhaps in anticipation of the throngs of tourists who will visit once all the construction is completed.
Harrods plans to remove the famous statue of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed from the bottom of the Egyptian escalators and hand it back to Mohamed Al-Fayed. “We are very proud to have played our role in celebrating the lives of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed at Harrods and to have welcomed people from around the world to visit the memorial for the past 20 years,” said Michael Ward, Harrods managing director. “With the announcement of the new official memorial statue to Diana, Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace, we feel that the time is right to return this memorial to Mr. Al Fayed and for the public to be invited to pay their respects at the palace.” More on the news, with reporting by @loreleimarfil, at WWD.com. #wwdnews
@prada is introducing a new project at its men’s fall 2018 show this Sunday: “Prada Invites.” The fashion house invited four celebrated creative minds – @ronanaerwanbouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, @herzogdemeuron and @rem.koolhaas – to each create a unique item with its iconic nylon material. The designs will be unveiled on the runway show, which will take place at the company’s warehouse in Viale Ortles 25. #wwdfashion #mfwm (📷: @martinocarrera)
@kering_official is spinning off its stake in puma in an effort to focus on its luxury brands, the brand operator announced yesterday. “We are proud to have supported the turnaround of Puma, which now has unrivaled capabilities to take full advantage of the specific dynamics of its global markets and is poised to achieve substantial growth,” said François-Henri Pinault, Kering’s chief executive officer and chairman. Artémis will become a “long-term strategic shareholder” of Puma with a 29 percent stake. #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @jilliansollazzo)
The fashion world mourns for celebrated street style photographer, Nabile Quenum, who died at age 32 in Paris.
Quenum, creator of the fashion blog “J’ai Perdu Ma Veste,” was a fashion week fixture, and regularly shot for New York magazine’s The Cut, among other outlets, and brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moncler and Adidas. He was also actively involved in the #NoFreePhotos initiative, which kicked off in the fall. Read more about Quenum in @kbsmoke's story on WWD.com. #wwdnews
@verwanggang and @maisonladuree have teamed up on a dessert collab called Vera Wang Pour Ladurée. The collection, which launched this week, features a specialty macaroon, as well as a wedding cake inspired by one of the designer’s gowns. “I could not imagine a more delicate or sophisticated creation to grace any couple’s celebration,” said Wang. #wwdfashion


text: When new businesses start up, arranging financing can be fraught. When that process involves a bank loan, it’s hard to know where to go. Many banks have a reputation for turning away small or risky tech startup businesses. Good news for tech businesses in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan. Bank of Ann Arbor, which according to DBusiness is now the 4th largest bank in Metro Detroit, has created an entire division specifically for financing and guiding tech businesses in the growing startup hub. BOAA Technology Industry Group President Michael Cole says this has been a long time in process. Cole has been working for the past 17 years to create business financing options specifically tailored to tech and life sciences businesses in Southeast Michigan.


text:
Major equipment manufacturers for mining, such as Bitmain, Canaan and Ebang, can suffer from recently imposed U.S. sanctions against Chinese goods.
According to the newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Office of the U.S. trade representative (USTR) has changed the classification of mining equipment, and is now subject to higher import duties.
In June, USTR has classified ASIC miner Bitmain Antminer S9 as “an apparatus of electrical equipment”, the tariff for the imports of this category amounted at that time to 2.6%. Prior to this, the miners belonged to the “machines for data processing” and the trade rate was zero.
But the change of classification has led to the fact that the mining hardware already in the list of Chinese goods in respect of which has been introduced an additional 25 percent tariff, which came into force in August. As a result, Chinese producers of ASIC miners are now faced with rate of 27.6% in the supply in the United States.
As told SCMP Ben Gagnon (Gagnon Ben), co-founder of LuTech developer of equipment for mining cryptocurrency, it is likely to change the tariff code will apply to all Chinese manufacturers mining installations which will fall under the new tariffs the United States.
According to the publication foreign sales in 2017 from Canaan and Ebang was 8.5% and 3.8% of the total. Much more onerous new trade tariffs the US can be for Bitmain — according to the IPO prospectus, the company’s sales abroad in 2016 was up 51.6% last year 51.8 per cent.
According to Mark Lee (Mark Li), senior analyst firm Sanford C. Bernstein, a new trade tariffs, the U.S. will make China mining equipment less competitive in the U.S. market. However, in his opinion, Bitmain should rather worry about high fees, and the technical gap. Companies such as Canaan and GMO Internet release a more advanced mining chips and more productive equipment than Bitmain Antminer S9, added Lee.


text:
Sales prices of luxury homes are rising faster than the overall Long Island housing market, according to a new second quarter report by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
The median sales price in the Island’s luxury market — homes that go for $760,000 and higher, but excluding the East End — rose more than 4 percent over the same time last year to $999,000, while the median sales price in the overall market increased by just 1.4 percent.
The price increase comes along with a nearly 14 percent dip in inventory in the luxury real estate market. There have also been more luxury sales in the first half of this year — 527 sales, up 15 percent from 458 sales over the same period in 2012.
“The high end of the Long Island housing market, excluding the East End, has been showing more robust activity in 2013 after years of moving sideways,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Manhattan appraisal firm Miller Samuel, which produced the report in conjunction with Douglas Elliman.
It was a similar story on Nassau County’s North Shore. Inventory fell and sales surged, both by more than 15 percent, in the first half of 2013 compared to the same time last year, according to Elliman’s report. In the first half of this year, there were 527 sales on the North Shore, up from 458 during the same time last year. The median sales price also jumped 6.4 percent to $715,000.


text:
“The Executive Board of the Riksbank decided to hold the repo rate at the continued low level of 1.25 per cent and to lower the repo-rate path to stimulate the economy so that inflation rises towards the target of 2 per cent,” the Riksbank said in a statement.
The Riksbank’s Executive Board released their decision on the interest rate, together with the October Monetary Policy Report, at 9.30am on Thursday morning.
The repo rate was last cut in September by 0.25 percent to 1.25 percent and the Riksbank said at the time that it expected it to remain at its current level until the middle of next year.
While the Swedish economy has been surprisingly robust through the first half of 2012, the Riksbank said in September that reduced demand from the euro area is dampening exports and weakening GDP growth.
The Riksbank said in the October statement released on Thursday, that although the Swedish economy has so far shown resilience to the debt crisis in Europe, it is now quite clear to see that Swedish exports are being dampened by the weak activity in the euro area.
However, the consequences for the economy as a whole are alleviated by households having relatively good purchasing power, according to the Riksbank.
“All in all, the Swedish economy is expected to develop in the coming period largely as the Riksbank had forecast earlier,” the bank said in the statement.
The decision for the rate to stay unchanged was not a surprise to those in the know and only two out of fifteen analysts had said ahead of the announcement that they thought the repo rate would be changed on Thursday, according to a recent Reuters’ survey.
The executive board of the Riksbank has long been divided, with two of the members registering their reservations against the decision, wanting an even lower repo rate to kickstart growth in the country.


text:
The U.S. fast food company Burger King made hamburger history this month when it announced it would be testing a meatless version of its Whopper using a high-tech recipe that gives artificial patties the look and feel of real beef.
For now, Burger King’s Impossible Whopper will be offered at 59 St. Louis locations and not at its restaurants in Israel. But the fact is that Israel is already home to a thriving meatless meat market.
That should come as no surprise: A survey taken for TheMarker by the market research firm Geocartography found that 6.5% of respondents said they were vegetarian and another 3% vegan. That compares with 5% and 3%, respectively, for Americans. Many meat-eaters have also cut back on their meat eating.
The Burger King meatless hamburger is being made by a Silicon Valley-based company called Impossible Foods, which genetically engineers heme – a protein that makes its burger taste and smell like meat. Its patties ooze with red juices that make it look like a real piece of beef.
The Impossible Burger is already sold in more than 5,000 restaurants, but if Burger King takes it nationwide, it would more than double its footprint.
Burger King said it had considered a rival ersatz burger developed and manufactured by another company called Beyond Meat, but chose Impossible Foods for the taste, brand recognition and price.
In Israel, however, it’s the Beyond Meat burger that’s conquered the market. The company reached an agreement with local importer Kaya a year ago and the first of the burgers reached menus at the Tel Aviv vegan chef restaurant Zakaim.
- The Brunch at Bana in Tel Aviv Is the Surprise of the Season
- Men Admit Vegan Meals Left Them Fuller, Medical Study Says
- New Vegan Shawarma Joint in Tel Aviv Is a Game-changer
Today, Beyond Meat’s burger is available at about 100 Israeli restaurants, which sell about 1,000 of them a day. The restaurants include them BBB, the vegetarian restaurant Goodness and Susu & Sons. Zakaim alone received no fewer than 100 orders a day for the burgers.
“A little more than a year ago [Kaya co-CEO Adi] Richter gave me one to taste and it was fantastic,” said Oren Hazan, Zakaim’s owner. “I had worked before at a meat restaurant, and the minute I tasted the Beyond Burger I realized it was a revolution. It’s flavor is close to the real thing.” Hazan said the hamburger was even winning praises from meat eaters.
Many Israelis are vegetarians but hamburgers are a big business: Hamburger restaurants had a combined turnover of between 2 billion and 2.5 billion shekels ($560 million-$700 million) in 2017. That’s about 12% of the country’s entire restaurant turnover, not counting the value-added tax.
But you can’t find meatless burgers of this kind in Israeli supermarkets and that is due to a combination of reasons involving bureaucracy and price. Israel’s Health Ministry hasn’t yet given its approval nor have kashrut authorities.
“We’re working right now on packaging issues to meet the standards required by the Health Ministry,” said Richter.
In any event, Shufer-Sal, Israel’s biggest supermarket chain, took at look at the Beyond Burger but decided against carrying its 248 stores due to the price. It would cost the consumer a steep 17-20 shekels per burger, compared with between 5 and 6 shekels for an ordinary vegetarian burger and even less for the lowest-cost meat burger.
The discount grocer Rami Levy is still in talks with Kaya and said the minute it gets Health Ministry approval, the food retailer is ready to put it on its store shelves. The chain’s founder and controlling shareholder, Rami Levy himself, said rising demand for vegetarian products means price is less of an issue.
“The price is a little high right now, but I’m going to ask them to lower it,” he said. “I believe it’s just a matter of time before it enters the Israeli market on a big scale and then the price will fall on its own.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s Startup Nation is getting into the meatless game. The demand for such products is huge, not only because of growing awareness of the health costs of eating a lot of meat but also the environmental damage that the meat-processing industry causes.
“Vegetarian substitutes have been around for 30 years, but the difference now is the money from Silicon Valley and the introduction of technology that has enabled a significant improvement in the products, for example hemoglobin in a plant form,” said Jonathan Berger, the aptly named CEO of the food-technology incubator The Kitchen.
Located in the port city of Ashdod and jointly operated by the Israeli food maker Strauss and the Israel Innovation Authority, The Kitchen is home to 12 food-tech startups. They include two focused on meatless meat.
The first is Aleph Farms, whose technology takes a sample of animal cells from a real cow and replicates them outside of the animal. It’s test tube meat is the first ever to be grown outside an animal that has a muscle-like texture similar to conventional meat.
The other is Rilbite, which uses raw, unprocessed ingredients to create “ground plants” as a ground meat alternative. The company is seeking to build its first factory in Israel within the next six months and to begin exporting products by the end of 2019.


text:
The prestigious Dutch manufacturer, Jongert Yachts, is currently attending this year’s BOOT Dusseldorf, presenting its all-new sailing yacht 3200P. The spectacular 3200P superyacht is a performance oriented sloop that will go into production early this year.
Another new design that deserves attention at BOOT 2013 is a 32-metre classic sailing yacht. While the initial design has its origins in the past, the 3200 Classic yacht has been restyled with the knowhow and technologies of today. The first images of this beautiful vessel are on display at BOOT Dusseldorf.
Aside from the sailing yachts, Jongert has a selection of motoryacht designs ready for visitors. The 4000 Cruiser MY is being showcased and the much loved 500-LE superyacht is located right next to her.
BOOT Dusseldorf will last until January 27 and Jongert stand is positioned in the superyacht hall 7A, number D25.
Below is a choice of the exquisite charter yachts built by Jongert.


text:
By Lillian Rizzo and Soma Biswas
Gymboree Corp. is looking to close a number of its stores as part of a broader business restructuring under bankruptcy court protection, according to people familiar with the matter.
The children’s clothing retailer has reached out to firms known for liquidating companies’ inventories and other assets to help with the closure of up to 350 of its stores, the people added.
Discussions surrounding the number of store closures are still ongoing, however, and could change by the time Gymboree seeks bankruptcy protection, they add.
Gymboree operated about 1,300 stores, which includes Gymboree-branded outlet stores, Janie and Jack and Crazy 8 stores as of July 2016, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Gymboree would look to close these locations as part of a bankruptcy filing, which could come as soon as next week, some of the people added.
A spokeswoman for Gymboree private-equity backer Bain Capital declined to comment on the matter. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The troubled retailer has been in discussions with its lenders in recent months as it grapples with a hefty debt load in a continuously distressed retail environment.
Malls continue to hemorrhage retailers as consumers’ tastes shift to online shopping, especially through Amazon.com. In recent months retailers such as the Limited, American Apparel and Wet Seal have closed all or most of their locations and filed for bankruptcy protection. Recently, Bebe Stores Inc. announced it would close all of its locations outside of a chapter 11 filing.
Gymboree has some $1.043 billion in outstanding debt, of which about $872 million is due in less than a year, SEC filings show. Much of this debt load stems from Bain Capital’s $1.8 billion leveraged buyout of the retailer in 2010.
In recent public filings, Gymboree warned that it needed to refinance some or all of its debt in the short-term or it would default. The company has just about $9.7 million in cash on hand, according to SEC filings from March.
Gymboree’s lenders, however, haven’t lost hope and still see value in the brand, according to a person familiar with the matter. Term loan holders are willing to write a check to fund Gymboree’s restructuring, including providing a debtor-in-possession loan to Gymboree to help it operate under bankruptcy protection, the person said.
If this plan came to fruition, it would be similar to the path of Payless ShoeSource Inc.’s recent bankruptcy filing. The country’s largest footwear chain sought chapter 11 protection in April, with plans to close about 400 of its roughly 4,400 locations.
The key to Payless’s restructuring will be cutting some 40% of its debt, and giving its lenders equity stakes in the reorganized company. Payless has said in court papers that it aims to exit bankruptcy protection by August.
Write to Lillian Rizzo at Lillian.Rizzo@wsj.com and Soma Biswas at


text:
Tracking developments in digital subscriber line (DSL), cable, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), and fixed Long-Term Evolution (LTE) customer premises equipment (CPE), the latest quarterly report from Infonetics Research reveals that the global broadband CPE market grew to $2.6 billion from July to October 2014, a sequential quarterly rise of six percent.
Growth in DOCSIS 3.0 equipment continued strong in 3Q and isn’t showing any signs of slowing, Infonetics highlights. “Cable operators worldwide are using the technology to gain broadband subscriber share,” Infonetics’ Prinicipal Analyst for Broadband Access Jeff Heynen was quoted as saying.
“Even if MSOs aren’t currently offering DOCSIS 3.0 services, prices on the D3 devices have come down to the point where it makes sense to move forward with them.”
Cumulatively, 89.1 million DOCSIS 3.0 devices were shipped worldwide from 4Q 2011 to 3Q 2014, according to Infonetics’ 3Q 2014 “Broadband CPE And Subscribers: PON, FTTH, Cable, DSL and LTE” report. Revenue from DOCSIS 3.0 gateway sales was up 14 percent quarter-to-quarter.
Broadband CPE Revenue Trends
Additional highlights of Infonetics’ – now a part of IHS – 3Q14 Broadband CPE report include:
- Connected home and multiscreen services continue to proliferate as operators increase the number of services they offer to subscribers and improve margins;
- As a result, an increasing number of intelligent, video-capable gateways are being shipped globally to support these advanced services;
- The fixed LTE CPE segment is beginning to rebound, and the North American market is expected by Infonetics to be a primary growth engine over the next 2 years as AT&T begins to roll out fixed LTE services to rural households.


text:
The Federal Trade Commission has guidelines for celebrities and bloggers to reveal their sponsorship ties, but they are not consistently followed, and some say the guidelines could be clearer. Companies shell out thousands of dollars for people with large numbers of followers to mention their brands on social media. But what's the difference between testimony and an ad?
Mary K. Engle, the FTC's associate director for advertising practices told The New York Times that, although an endorsement has to be clear, they are not "prescriptive" about what's included in a social mention. The FTC guidelines suggest starting a post with something like "#Ad." According to the Times, "For example, simply saying 'thank you' to a brand or adding '#sp' or '#spon' probably isn't clear enough, while saying a brand is a 'partner' probably is," Engle said.
The organization Truth in Advertising wrote a letter to the Kardashian/Jenner family about recent posts they consider to be deceptive marketing. On her Instagram account, Kylie Jenner displays Fit Tea but fails to mention that this is a paid endorsement.
- Should the FTC create more specific guidelines for what to include in social media posts? Or should celebrities know better?
- What's the value of disclosing that a celebrity is compensated by a brand? How, if it all, would a clearer marking affect your decision to buy a product?


text:
A new Mac is in the pipeline and it will run on Apple Silicon – that’s the name Apple is using for its custom-made ARM-based chips that it will be transitioning to over the next two years. The company has confirmed that the first Apple Silicon powered Mac will launch before the end of 2020 – so we should see the first ARM MacBook or Mac soon.
There is already a Silicon version of the Mac mini, but this is available to developers only. You are no doubt wondering when a new Silicon Mac will be available for you – enticed no doubt by the promise of being able to run iOS and iPad apps natively on the new Mac.
Apple’s said that the first Mac with an Apple Silicon chip will arrive by the end of 2020. It might seem likely that this new Mac will also take on the form of the Mac mini – but as you will see if you read on, it looks likely that it will first arrive in a revived 12in MacBook, the 13in MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air.
In this article we’ll look into Apple’s plans to start using its own ARM-based SoCs rather than Intel chips in its Macs. We’ll address the release date of this new Mac that could be capable of running both iOS and macOS, its price, what we know so far about these next-gen Apple-made processors, and what it might mean for the included graphics.
Apple Silicon Mac release date
Apple has confirmed that the first ARM Mac will arrive before the end of 2020. If you are wondering when that first Apple Silicon-powered Mac or MacBook will launch you are in the right place to find out!
There are questions relating to which Mac will be first to transition to Silicon, which we will look into below, but as for when we are likely to see the first Mac or MacBook with ARM-based processor it seems likely that it will launch in November 2020.
In a 9 October article Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested Apple will launch its new Macs in November. “The first Mac laptop with Apple’s own processor, among other products, will emerge at another launch in November,” writes Gruman.
We weren’t surprised that the first Silicon MacBook didn’t put in an appearance at the 13 October event, we thought that the new Mac would require more ‘air time’ than this iPhone 12-focused event would allow.
We still may not have to wait until November though: a twitter user has gone as far as to predict the 27 October as the launch date for the new Silicon Mac. @ihacktu (aka iHacktu Pro) tweeted that the keynote at which Apple would present a new iPad Pro and the first ARM Macs would take place on Tuesday 27 October. That 24 July tweet has now been deleted (of course).
What is Apple Silicon?
Apple has announced that it will be moving away from Intel processors inside its Macs to its own home-made processors – called Apple Silicon. You may have heard them referred to as ARM processors, that’s because the architecture that underlies them is known as ARM. Apple’s been making its own processors for a while now – every iPhone, iPad, and many other Apple products have Apple processors inside. Indeed, some Macs already have an Apple processor inside – the T1 and T2 are ARM-based security related chips that appear in various Macs.
This won’t be the first time Apple has made such a transition, in 2006 it moved from PowerPC chips to Intel. Just as was the case back then, this latest move won’t happen overnight and there will be a lot of work involved behind the scenes, not just for Apple but also for developers who will need to translate their apps to run on the new architecture (although initially apps will be automatically translated using Apple’s Rosetta system). We have everything you need to know about Apple Silicon here. You might also be interested to read about how Apple Silicon will compare to Intel here.
We think that the first Mac to get an Apple Silicon processor will either be the 12in MacBook or the 13in MacBook Pro (perhaps the 12in MacBook will actually replace the 13in MacBook Pro). We anticipate the roll out being something like this:
Actually there is already an Apple Silicon powered Mac out there – Apple is already shipping a Mac mini with a A12Z installed to developers who are part of the macOS Big Sur beta testing program. This Mac mini uses the same processor as the iPad Pro.
However, when it comes to the first Apple Silicon Mac for everyone else it looks like it will be a MacBook.
Apple leaker Komiya is claiming in a tweet that the first ARM Mac will be the MacBook, suggesting that Apple will bring back the MacBook model that it discontinued in summer 2019.
Transferring to Apple Silicon
MacBook Pro 13”
MacBook Pro 16” (partly)
MacBook Pro 16” (rest)
— Komiya (@KOMIYA45020228)
August 14, 2020
We’ve thought for some time that Apple could bring back the 12in MacBook as the first ARM powered Mac, but there are other commentators who think differently.
For example, TF International Securities Ming Chi Kuo predicted back in July 2020 that the first Mac to feature the new Apple processor would be the 13in MacBook Pro. He suggests that it will go in to production in the fourth quarter of 2020, as per an MacRumors report.
Kuo is usually accurate. He said back in March 2020 – before Apple announced the transition from Intel – that the new ARM-based Mac could arrive before the end of 2020.
Following that initial Silicon Mac, the next Mac to gain an Apple Silicon processor will be the MacBook Air, according to Kuo. The updated Air could arrive later this year or early next, he said.
After the 13in MacBook Pro and Air receive their Apple processor update, Kuo suggests that next in line will be the 16in MacBook Pro and the long rumoured 14in MacBook Pro. In addition to the new Apple processor these models will gain a “completely new form factor design” according to Kuo. Those Macs are unlikely to be updated until 2021 though. Kuo suggests that these new MacBook Pro models won’t ship until late 2Q21 or 3Q21.
If you are wondering where the Mac desktops figure in this line up, Kuo has made no announcements relating to Apple’s plans to transition desktop Macs such as the iMac. With the iMacs expected to be updated soon it seems likely that these will retain Intel processors – Apple has confirmed that it still intends to launch some Intel Macs in the next year or so. So it seems likely the iMac won’t see Apple Silicon processors until late 2021 or even 2022.
As for the Mac mini, you may be thinking that with there already being a Mac mini running on the same chip as the iPad Pro – albeit one for developers – the Mac mini would be a prime candidate for Apple Silicon. The Mac mini is also due an update, having not been updated since 2018 aside from an increase in the amount of storage you get as standard. However, it’s not clear when this update will happen. It will probably be determined by who Apple’s target audience is for the Mac mini – is it a consumer Mac, or is it a Mac that is used for “industrial grade tasks” as Apple puts it? The company suggests the Mac mini “powers everything from home automation to giant render farms,” in its product pages.
It seems that the consumer Macs are the Macs that are in the line to transition away from Intel first, perhaps because it will take longer for Apple to produce chips that are suitable for professional machines. More on what you can expect from the specs of these new machines below.
Apple doesn’t expect the transition to happen overnight. Apple said that it will be two years before it completes its transition to Apple Silicon from Intel when it revealed its plans during the WWDC presentation in June 2020.
Silicon MacBook price
Ihacktu also claimed in his tweet that the new Silicon MacBook will cost just $800. He also suggests that the new Silicon 13in MacBook Pro will start at the $1,099 (it’s currently $1,299). More information here: Silicon MacBook could launch on 27 October and cost $800.
Ihacktu’s tweet might have been deleted, but tweeter Komiya also mentions the price. He suggests that the price will be $849 – with a $799 price for students.
Making its own processors in house could theoretically mean that Apple can save money. However, it’s unlikely that will translate into a price drop for consumers. Apple is likely to plough more money into the research and development for these chips, so there are unlikely to really be any cost savings for the company.
In fact, it’s often the case that when Apple introduces a new product the price goes up. So the first generation Apple Silicon Macs could actually cost more than their predecessors.
However, we think that in this instance Apple will want to make the upgrade attractive to consumers and for that reason we expect that the pricing will be similar to what it is now.
First Apple Silicon Mac specs
Aside from the Apple Processor inside this new Mac, what other specs can we expect to see?
It’s possible that these first Macs to use Apple Silicon will not change in any other way – we may see the same RAM and storage allocation for example.
However, as we mentioned above, the specs of consumer focused Macs are very different to those destined for professional users – especially professional creatives. The GPU provision of Silicon Macs is the most obvious question – and the biggest concern – there.
12in MacBook Specs
We’ll quickly mention the specs of the rumoured 12in MacBook here, as leaked by Komiya in the below tweet:
12” Retina Display
15hr~20hr battery life
720p Facetime HD Camera
Single USB-C port
About 2 ponds
4th gen Butterfly Keyboard
$849~(For Students: $799~)
— Komiya (@komiya_kj)
August 29, 2020
He suggests that the new MacBook will feature a A14X chip, 8GB and 16GB of RAM, and between 256GB to 512GB storage. The most impressive claim: battery life of up to 20 hours.
Currently most consumer Macs, with their Intel processors, have Intel integrated graphics. What graphics will the new Apple Silicon Macs offer?
Apple told developers at WWDC that Apple Silicon Macs will sport custom Apple GPUs. In a developer support document Apple advises not to underestimate an integrated Apple GPU, saying: “Don’t assume a discrete GPU means better performance… The integrated GPU in Apple processors is optimized for high performance graphics tasks.”
At least for consumer Macs using an Apple integrated GPU would make sense, and it shouldn’t be a huge leap for the company – Apple already makes its own GPUs for the iPhone and iPad.
However, when it comes to pro focused Macs, such as those that currently use AMD GPUs the transition will be more complex. The company may continue to use these high-end graphics processors. Alternatively, this may also explain why the iMac and other pro-focused desktops and laptops won’t be transitioning to Apple Silicon soon.
When Apple is able to use Apple Silicon inside it’s Macs it may pave the way for Face ID on the Mac. There is evidence in the Big Sur beta that the TrueDepth camera is going to become a feature of the MacBook range, enabling Face ID.
First Apple Silicon Mac software
We know that the first Apple Silicon Macs will run macOS Big Sur – the operating system that is being developed for both types of Mac. However, there is a lot that these new Silicon Macs will be able to do that their Intel counterparts won’t.
The WWDC keynote suggested that it will be possible to run iOS apps on the new Silicon-powered Mac.
This means that developers won’t have to develop separate versions of their apps for Mac and iOS/iPad OS – one app could work on all platforms.
This reminds us of a 9to5Mac report back in May 2018 that revealed details of an in-house project as Apple codenamed ‘Star’ that suggested that Apple was creating an ARM-based processor to be used in a “brand-new device family” that would run a derivative of iOS on a Mac.
That ‘Star’ project related to a product with that has “a touchscreen, a SIM card slot, GPS, compass, is water-resistant and also runs EFI,” according to 9to5Mac. EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) is the boot system used by Macs.
Wouldn’t it be nice if this new Apple Silicon Mac had a touch screen? Speaking of which, this is why we think Apple needs a touchscreen Mac.


text:
Telemedicine may be a key option for Fitbit to boost the wearable technology company’s subscription service, according to co-founder and CEO James Park, Tech Spot reports.
Fitbit’s premium health and fitness subscription service has more than 500,000 users. Moving forward, the company plans to grow this line by getting into virtual care and convincing consumers that investments in digital tools such as a connected thermometer will help “give your physician that same level of insight that they might get when you go in for an in-person visit,” Mr. Park said, according to the Oct. 26 report.
Google bought Fitbit for $2.1 billion in November 2019, and Mr. Park said he expects the deal to close later this year, adding that “Google has incredible resources [and] the combination of the two companies has the potential to have a profound impact on the course of healthcare.”
Under the acquisition, Fitbit will continue to operate as if it were an independent company with its own product roadmap and operating plans, according to the report.
More articles on telehealth:
Telehealth will play larger role even after pandemic recedes, Moody’s says
7 big ideas in telehealth
Viewpoint: 3 ways to retool Medicare coverage, reimbursement for the digital revolution
© Copyright ASC COMMUNICATIONS 2020. Interested in LINKING to or REPRINTING this content? View our policies by clicking here.


text:
Alibaba Group Holding Limited has led investments worth more than $300 million into Chinese autonomous driving start-up called DeepRoute.ai
DeepRoute.ai makes self-driving systems for vehicles that involve hardware and software.
The Shenzhen-based start-up also runs a fleet of autonomous taxis with some operated by its partners including ride-hailing firm CaoCao and automaker Dongfeng Motors. But the company is also developing technology for logistics.
The Chinese multinational technology giant which specializes in e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology, invested to get a foothold in the area of driverless cars.
Alibaba’s involvement in the funding round underscores the ambitions of China’s technology giants to get a foothold in the area of driverless cars. Alibaba is already an investor in another Chinese autonomous driving car start-up called AutoX and is backing electric vehicle maker Xpeng.
Alibaba also has its own logistics arm called Cainiao which plans to develop self-driving trucks.
According to the CEO of DeepRoute.ai, Maxwell Zhou, “most of the money is being spent to develop the technology and the rest is scale up the fleet size” of its robotaxis. Money will also go toward hiring more talent”.
Zhou added that the company currently operates around 70 robotaxis and wants to expand its fleet to between 150 to 160. Half of the robotaxis will be operated by DeepRoute.ai, while the other half will be run by its partners.
In a press release, the company said its long-term strategy includes developing medium-duty trucks for urban logistics, improving transit for shipments as well as freight delivery.
Zhou declined to comment on any specific projects with Alibaba, but said “every opportunity is possible.”
There are a few sources of revenue for DeepRoute.ai. It can charge passengers for its robotaxi service or revenue share with a ride-hailing firm. Or it can also sell its autonomous driving system to automakers in return for a one-time fee as well as an annual service fee.
In the logistics space, DeepRoute.ai could run an autonomous driving fleet for a company or again, sell its driverless technology.
China’s autonomous driving industry is getting very competitive.


text:
On August 29, RFT Artopia will return for its sixth annual gala celebration of the arts in St. Louis. The 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center (2720 Cherokee; 314-875-0233) will be crammed with live performances of the musical and visual flavor along with a fully decked-out fashion show. Expect the ... More >>
It's been observed that bikinis can somehow breathe summer into a cold and meaningless January weekend. Such was the case Saturday when St. Louis Fashion Week held its first of four casting calls for local models. This one was on the second floor of Macy's at the Galleria. Events coordinator Rache ... More >>
Then save the world
That's how they roll
Karlie Kloss, the Webster High sophomore featured in this week’s cover story, is the subject of a photo slide show in today’s New York Times in which photographer Greg Kesseler "captures the constantly changing faces of fashion week." By Jennifer Silverberg
An art fair to top all others
A busy weekend in St. Louis. Hot weather seemed to put everyone in a sloth-like state during the day, but at night, when temps cooled into the lower 70's, nightlife took off. And some people just took off their clothes.
Instead, they walk the runway
And celebrate it, too
Elliott Davis and Larry Conners hit the catwalk, much to Ms. Day's delight
Cough it up at Hairball
Mary and Jeff Clarke feed beauty to the tough world of high fashion. Hard to do from the cornfields of Iowa. Harder still in St. Louis, where too many parents and kids have their dreams exploited for money.


text:
As an increasing number of individuals obtain immunized, take a trip climbs up greater onto individuals’s top priority listings. And also for cannabis customers, there’s one specific European location that most likely tops the checklist.
On Wednesday, the European Union introduced that they would certainly be resuming their boundaries to immunized vacationers, consisting of Americans as well as various other nations that have actually handled to immunize considerable parts of their populace.
The EU will certainly be enabling site visitors that have actually obtained EU accepted injections (Moderna, Pfizer as well as Johnson & & Johnson) enabling them to take a trip without needing to undertake screening or quarantine. This is fantastic for Americans that have actually been immunized as well as that may be itching to take a trip as well as attempt various points after investing a year living under pandemic problems.
When it involves marijuana, lovers could need to reassess a journey to Amsterdam, a city that for years has actually been just one of one of the most pro-weed locations on the planet. In January, the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, claimed she could think about outlawing marijuana tourist in the nation, enabling just the city’s homeowners to take part in cannabis- relevant tasks.
RELATED: International Traveling: Right here’s When Specialists Forecast It’ll Go back to Regular
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Amsterdam, the resources city of the Netherlands, was getting over a million vacationers each month– most of whom were intending to make a drop in among the city’s well known cafe.
” Cafe, particularly in the facility, mostly operated on vacationers,” Halsema claimed. “The boost in tourist has actually just enhanced need as well as brought in hard-drug crime while doing so. We can be an open, congenial as well as forgiving city, however additionally a city that makes life tough for lawbreakers as well as decreases mass tourist.”
RELATED: Brexit After Effects: British Nationals Outlawed From Amsterdam’s Cannabis Coffee Shops
Per the Centers for Illness Control as well as Avoidance (CDC), the Netherlands is presently a degree 4 danger location when it involves COVID-19. “As a result of the present scenario in the Netherlands also completely immunized vacationers might go to danger for obtaining as well as spreading out COVID-19 versions as well as need to prevent all traveling to the Netherlands,” clarifies the CDC.
While the cannabis market has actually been helpful for Amsterdam, generating profits, maintaining dispensaries running as well as promoting a society of enjoyable as well as liberty, COVID-19 issues can lead to the mayor taking an extra traditional position. It may be the press the city requires to secure more spread from COVID-19 infections as well as control medicine crime.
The declarations made worrying these items have not been assessed by the Foods as well as Medication Management. The efficiency of those goods has actually not been verified by FDA-approved evaluation. These goods are normally not implied to detect, manage, solution, or avert any type of health problem. All information located right below will certainly not be implied as an alternate selection to or various from information from health treatment experts. Please look for the suggestions of your health treatment knowledgeable regarding prospective communications or various achievable problems previously than making use of any type of item. The Federal Foods, Medication as well as Charm Act needs this exploration.


text:
Wolfe Tones GAC is proud to announce JBX Paperpak as the primary sponsor for our Under 10 Boys team.
Based in Dublin, JBX Paperpak manufactures and sells high-quality 100% recyclable, biodegradable, compostable and plastic free straws for the hospitality, retail and medical industries across Ireland and GB.
JBX PaperPak director and founder John McKenna said “we’re delighted to be able to support grassroots Gaelic Games and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Wolfe Tones GAC”
Wolfe Tones Chairperson Stephen McCourt said “Wolfe Tones are incredibly grateful for this sponsorship which will help in kitting out and supporting some of our youngest members as they embark on their Gaelic Games adventures and we’re delighted that an indigenous Irish company focussed on sustainability and the environment has chosen to help us in this way”.
Wolfe Tones to host Ladies Junior B Shield
Wolfe Tones selected for LGFA Club2Gether
Sponsored Walk for KBRT


text:
Jordan Belfort is the inspiration for the famous film “The Wolf of Wall Street”. So he was eventually nicknamed. Former crypto manager, Jordan now teaches courses on digital assets. Recently, he said it would be difficult not to make money investing in bitcoin (BTC) in the long run.
According to Jordan Belfort, bitcoin (BTC) is a solid crypto.
Jordan Belfort said it would be scary to find out that an investor who owns Bitcoin (BTC) does not make money on ” three, four or five years »Investment. In fact, while explaining his outlook for cryptocurrency on Yahoo Finance’s The Crypto Mile, The Wolf of Wall Street claimed that bitcoin (BTC) has really strong fundamentals.. According to him, investors should avoid thinking of bitcoin (BTC) only on a 12 or 24 month horizon.
Belfort said: With a reasonable chance, I think if you take a 24 – month horizon, you will almost certainly make money. “. He also said that bitcoin (BTC) could be considered a store of value. “Supply is limited and as inflation continues to rise, at some point bitcoin will have matured enough to be treated more as a store of value and less as a growth stock. “, He said.
In addition, according to Jordan Belfort, bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) are the best recommended digital assets for a long-term crypto investor. Note that the price of the cryptocurrency was recently flagged at $ 21,038. This represents a 9% increase over the last seven days. At the same time, this is a 38% drop over one year.
The Wolf of Wall Street, former stockbroker
Belfort is a former stockbroker. It was his memories that inspired the American film “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Jordan Belfort founded Stratton Oakmont, a boiler house that marketed penny stocks, that is, stocks that traded for less than five dollars. But, the company was taking money from investors. In this context, Belfort was charged and convicted of fraud in 1999, forcing him to pass 22 months in prison.
In 2017, Belfort clearly demonstrated its opposition to cryptocurrencies, and in particular bitcoin (BTC). However, a few years later, he became a pro-crypto motivational speaker. During his interview on The Crypto Mile at Yahoo Finance, he revealed that it was still his old statements about crypto. “Except for one thing, I was wrong that bitcoin was going to zero“, He specified.
According to former crypto manager Jordan Belfort, aka the “Wolf of Wall Street”, bitcoin (BTC) is a cryptocurrency with strong fundamentals. So it would be a non-profit thing to generate income from bitcoin (BTC) investment over three to five years.
Get a summary of the news in the world of cryptocurrencies by subscribing to our new daily and weekly newsletter service so you don’t miss any of the essential Cointribune!
Behind the generic “Redaction CT” signature are young journalists and authors with specific profiles who wish to remain anonymous because of their connection to the ecosystem and certain obligations.


text:
We know readers love Wednesday's Viva. Now you can ShopViva, too. We're launching a new online fashion boutique from Viva, The New Zealand Herald's flagship lifestyle magazine.
ShopViva is home to a collection of New Zealand and international designers and brands to buy plus it's free delivery New Zealand-wide.
In store now are designers like Karen Walker, World, Zambesi, Helen Cherry & Workshop, Stolen Girlfriends Club and Ruby.
Viva editor Amanda Linnell said ShopViva will allow readers easy access to buy fashion they read about in Viva every Wednesday.
Check it out at www.shopviva.co.nz.
And to celebrate the launch we have a $3,000 designer wardrobe up for grabs. Go to www.shopviva.co.nz to register and go in the draw to win. Entries close on 30 September 2014.


text:
The 5th of May is World Password Day, the ideal opportunity to raise awareness of passwords with your organisation's staff and senior management.
This is the fourth year passwords have been honoured in this way. The event recurs annually on the first Thursday of May.
To help, we have compiled a few quick resources to help you make the most of this auspicious occasion.
The World Password Day website: here you can test the security of passwords, read advice and even watch videos about the importance of password security (1075 views on Youtube!) https://passwordday.org/
And Billy Austin, VP of security at LOGICnow, has shared a few tips on password safety:
- Consider a Password Manager to store and generate passwords. Password Managers help employees generate sophisticated & unique passwords for each login.
- Change all default passwords on vendor provided devices and applications. The most obvious example we can all relate to is the home wireless router where Admin is the login and ‘Password' is the password.
- Remove all account IDs and Passwords from terminated employees, avoiding unauthorized access. Today's plentitude of logins present a challenge to IT while attackers see this as a potential backdoor into the crown jewels - your data.
Intel has written a blog about the day: https://iq.intel.com/celebrate-world-password-day-2016/
It even has it's own hashtag on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/PasswordDay #PasswordDay
And the National Cyber Security Alliance is holding an online chat about it at 3pm EDT (8pm BST) as you can see from this tweet:
#DidYouKnow May 5 is #PasswordDay? Join a #ChatSTC 5/5, 3 p.m. EDT 4 tips on securing #online accounts. #CyberAware pic.twitter.com/Mxn5Ri9hr3— NatlCyberSecAlliance (@StaySafeOnline) May 3, 2016


text:
U-M expert: Brands’ growing embrace of Pride Month encouraging but challenge comes after June
As another Pride Month comes to a close, it’s worth noting the rise of advertising, marketing and overall corporate messaging related to it.
For Marcus Collins, a lecturer of marketing at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the most remarkable thing was how commonplace it has become. Brands in general are getting better at recognizing LGBTQ consumers and plenty more “jump in the Pride pool” every year, said Collins, who becomes an assistant clinical professor of marketing on July 1.
Still, that doesn’t mean every corporation is getting it right. Collins, also head of planning at Wieden+Kennedy New York, offers five things to know or think about regarding the highs and lows of “rainbow capitalism.”
1. Trying too hard is as bad as not trying hard enough.
“I think about the legitimation of the LGBTQ community in this country. If you rewind 10 years ago—that’s a real good inflection point—people were still somewhat skittish but you start to see a lot of brands speak up, speak out and embrace the LGBTQ community.
“What happened is as the American zeitgeist, or collective conscience, about LGBTQ rights started to shift. Brands started to see this is a cultural moment they can tap into. In some cases, there were opportunists and in other cases companies said, ‘We’re late to the party so we’re really going to start dancing.’
“By all means, jump in. But don’t make it performative to such a degree that we’re conquesting. We’re talking about people’s lives, we’re talking about people’s lived experiences. If we treat this as sort of another marketing moment then we have done a disservice to the people who are the topic of the day and we’ve sort of diminished the importance of the matter.”
2. Start—but don’t end—with intentionality.
“All we can do is look at what they’ve done, what they’re doing today and keep the receipts of what they’re doing tomorrow to hold them accountable.
“But the intention isn’t enough. I teach my students the concept of IPO: intention, perspective and outcomes. We can have the best intentions in the world. If our perspective is anemic and not representative of a broader perspective, it’s highly unlikely the outcomes are going to be unfavorable.”
3. Keep it real.
“About five years ago, there were brands trying to signal some kind of association with or acknowledgement of the LGBTQ community. Some featured two men together who could still be seen as friends. It’s like they were saying, “We’re just signaling. We’re not going to go way, way in.”
“Now we see more women holding hands, or men. It’s not a nod and a wink—we’re here. If nothing else, I think advertising and marketing communicators are getting better at it. As an inspiration, I really have to hand it to television shows like “Pose.” They’re taking massive steps forward to be fully representative of all the nuances of the community, not just sexual orientation.”
4. Give people grace.
“People may not be aware yet they are willing to take steps forward. If we judge people where they are today, we don’t care about people growing. If you weren’t aware or hip to it and didn’t have empathic muscle at the time, you’ve got to give grace.”
5. Don’t stop at the end of June.
“For marketers, this can’t be and shouldn’t be a Pride Month where we turn all of our profiles to rainbows. Do this for a month and then peace the LGBTQ community out until next June.
“It must continue: We can’t be tourists. If we are so committed as we say in the month of June then we have to be committed the entire time. My colleague and I used to joke about the Destiny’s Child song, ‘Say My Name.’ Say it when it’s not June if you’re really invested in the LGBTQ community, just as you should say it when it’s not February, after Black History Month.
“If you’re really about it, you need to be about it all year. The brand has to cloak itself in what it actually believes.”


text:
Woolworths has held on to the title of Australia’s most valuable brand despite a 10% fall in value to $11 billion.
Close behind in second place is Telstra, whose brand value grew by 14% to $9.6 billion.
The Woolworths decline can be put down to intense competition in the retail industry and the company’s expansion into slow growing categories such as home improvement.
The German supermarket Aldi’s $700 million investment in Western Australia and South Australia is putting further pressure on Woolworths and its competitor Coles.
The Coles brand has been hit with a static brand value of $7.1 billion.
Here are the top 10:
Mark Crowe, Brand Finance Australia managing director, says it’s been a tough year for supermarkets globally and Australia is no different.
“Expansion into new categories is very much driven by leveraging brand strength, with the objective of increasing loyalty and share of wallet, but it remains to be seen if these investments will pay off,” he says.
“Food price inflation has put additional pressure on thinning margins without the compensation of increased sales by volume.”
Telstra put in a strong financial performance, expanding its 4G network coverage and broadband speed and well as acquiring Pacnet which will extend its reach to China and California.
“Telstra’s prioritisation of customer advocacy is a critical component to maintaining a competitive edge and further increasing its brand strength,” says Crowe. “If successful, Telstra will be a strong challenger for the number one Australian brand.”
The Commonwealth Bank saw its brand value rise 50% to $9.2 billion, reclaiming its position as Australia’s most valuable banking brand from ANZ, which held that position for the previous two years.
The ANZ still enjoyed growth of 23%. The other banks also did well: Macquarie (22%), Westpac (26%) and St George (31%).
The dollar value of a brand is only half the story. Brand Finance also calculates the power of a brand.
As well as being the most valuable bank brand, the Commonwealth has seen its brand rating upgraded to AAA- making it Australia’s most powerful brand.
It scores highly on Brand Finance’s Brand Strength Index including familiarity, loyalty, promotion, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation.
Here are the most powerful brands for 2015:
Business Insider Emails & Alerts
Site highlights each day to your inbox.


text:
Back in May Gisele Bundchen Instagrammed a picture of herself on a shoot in London; it turns out that the shot was the Fall 2013 ad campaign for H&M.
This is not the first time the Brazilian beauty, who is currently the highest-paid model in the world, has fronted a campaign for the brand; she was also the Spring 2011 campaign model.
Lachlan Bailey captured the exotic beauty wearing turtleneck knit sweaters, long royal-blue utilitarian pea coats with big gold buttons, beige skinny jeans, cosy sweaters, military hats, army-green skinny jeans with abstract stitching, blazers worn with blouses, a shearling vest, and an olive-green silk blouse.
The model is not only the face of the campaign, but she is also the voice. She will also be singing in the campaign, which includes TV and online commercials alongside print and billboard advertising and will debut on September 12.
Gisele’s version of “All Day And All Of The Night”, originally by The Kinks, will be available for free download from hm.com, and will also be on iTunes, raising money for UNICEF. For every single download from iTunes, H&M will make a donation to UNICEF to enable the purchase of vaccines for children.
“I am so excited to be the face of H&M this autumn. I love the street-style look, and that we can raise funds for a good cause. I hope everyone downloads my song!” says Gisele.


text:
Social media giant Facebook is launching shoppable lives videos for beauty and fashion brands starting today. The shoppable Friday event will showcase videos featuring products and demos on brands’ Facebook pages.
The livestream events, which will last through July 16, will enable consumers to find new products, ask questions related to size and fit and receive tips in real-time. Shoppers will be able to make purchases by simply tapping the products that are being featured and making payments without leaving the Facebook platform, the company said.
Some of the brands participating in the event include Abercrombie & Fitch, Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Sephora.
“Live Shopping offers a chance to build relationships with customers, provide new entertaining content, answer questions and streamline the purchase process through convenient checkout with Shops,” the company noted.
The company’s move to launch live Summer shopping events comes at a time when brands and retailers are looking to engage customers across a variety of digital channels even as their customers return to physical stores. Live stream shopping platform, QVC, for example, expanded its presence to YouTube to engage new customers. Meanwhile, LG TV launched a live shopping app last October, enabling shoppers to shop with platforms such as QVC and HSN more easily.
More recently, livestream shopping startups Whatnot and Talkshoplive made news when they raised $20 million and $3 million in funding, respectively, Retail Dive reported.
The livestream shopping market is expected to be valued at $6 billion this year and will grow to $25 billion by 2023, according to Coresight research.