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Industry News & Press Releases
The appointment reinforces Lemma’s commitment to supporting modern marketers with seamless access to emerging formats via a single platform.
Monday, 29th May 2023 - Lemma, an omnichannel Supply Side Platform for emerging formats, today announced that Ryan Pestano, an accomplished product leader with expertise in digital media, product strategy and business development has joined the team as chief product officer.
Hivestack extends its global partnership with Clear Channel into Italy to drive programmatic growth for local and global advertisers
MILAN, ITALY, MONTREAL, CANADA - May 17, 2023 - Hivestack, the world’s largest, independent, programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) ad tech company today announced the expansion of its multi-country partnership with Clear Channel through its latest integration with Clear Channel
DENVER—Corporate real estate and office management firm Vector Property Services added digital signage as part of an upgrade to its workspace located in Denver’s central business district. A/V solutions company King Systems oversaw the technological refresh and provided installation services, selecting SNA Displays to manufacture a 2.5 mm BOLD™ Interior LED video wall for the common area.
As part of the
June 14 Event to Take Place at Scotiabank Theater in Toronto
NEW YORK – May 2, 2023 – DPAA, the global trade marketing association, driving the growth and digitization of out-of-home media and its growing role in the omnichannel mix, announced today speakers and details for its Canada Summit to be held on June 14 at the Scotiabank Theater. You can
Vohra’s extensive expertise in business development and partnerships to further fuel Lemma’s momentum in the region.
28th -April -2023 - Lemma, an independent omnichannel Supply Side Platform (SSP) announced the appointment of Areef Vohra as country head for Australia and New Zealand. The appointment comes as part of Lemma's strategy to further expand its presence in the ANZ region.
With the addition of new leadership, Lemma aims to boost its Sales growth in Southeast Asian markets.
13th April 2023- Lemma, an independent omnichannel Supply Side Platform (SSP), has announced the appointment of Charles Less as Regional Head for Southeast Asia. Charles' appointment is a part of Lemma's strategic plan to strengthen the growth of its programmatic DOOH business in
CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA—A large, dual-faced digital pylon for the Puente Hills Auto Center, a group of car dealerships in the Puente Hills area east of Los Angeles, was upgraded with EMPIRE™ Exterior LED display technology from SNA Displays. The digital pylon enjoys long read times from both east and westbound lanes of Pomona Freeway (Route 60). It features digital-out-of-home
German cleantech startup to broaden available EV charger ad inventory across Europe, advance EV charger audience experience with proven DOOH advertising platform
Montreal, Canada – March 29, 2023 – Broadsign and Numbat GmbH today announced that Numbat has selected the Broadsign digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising platform to build, power, and scale advertising capabilities for its growing network of sustainable, high-power electric vehicle (EV)
Finnish OOH audience measurement provider Hypercell and Canadian group Mobilytics are joining forces, to provide real-time OOH analytics and retargeting capabilities. Hypercell’s audience measurement solution has been widely deployed in Europe, where clients like JCDecaux use the service in all major cities throughout Finland.
Mobilytics specializes in providing patented measurement hardware and analytics for mobile OOH assets, while Hypercell’s offering
NEW YORK, NY – March 21, 2023 – Vengo, the leading place-based media technology platform, announces its exclusive programmatic sales partnership with Geometria.
Denys Kanel, CEO of Geometria said, "We're proud to announce our programmatic sales partnership with Vengo, one of the leading players in the industry. Together, we'll leverage our combined expertise and cutting-edge technology to expand our reach


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Apple in QUOTES
What are people saying about the world of Apple?
www.apple.com “I want an Apple that’s bold and taking risks and being aggressive.”
Apple’s marketing chief wants a fight.
www.apple.com “We will start to see more technology embedded in garments, magic woven in.”
Apple designer talks wearables.
www.apple.com “If you stacked all iPhone 6s sold during the last holiday quarter, it would be higher than the International Space Station.” Apple’s senior vice president, operations, says how it is
www.lefsetz.com “The customer doesn’t want Apple Music, doesn’t need Apple Music, and the hardest problem facing musicians is getting people to listen to their tunes at all, not getting paid” Renowned music blogger doesn’t get Apple Music

domain: news


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How New York became a space centre, making green products stylish and branding a nation.
It’s not easy being hip and green, but a new product launch this month aims to breach the divide. Since 2000, Method, a start-up from San Francisco, has been shaking up the drab cleaning-products category with its minimalist, almost no-label bottles, which contain eco-friendly detergents that tease with a whiff of gentle luxury.
The question is, now that the Doves of the world also churn out green tea soap in clear dispensers, how does an outfit with 80 employees and $33.5 million (€25.5 million) in annual sales out run the big guys?
Answer: by bringing someone like Josh Handy on board as a “professional disruptor”. Before he joined the company, Method’s new chief innovator worked as product director for the British-Egyptian designer Karim Rashid.
Handy had a hand in developing Bloq, Method’s new line of bodycare products, to be introduced in the US and Canada this month, and in the UK at the end of the year. The opaque rectangles in four colours and scents are a radical departure from the company’s signature curvy designs that made their bottles of washing-up liquid collectors’ items.
Bloq was a spur-of-the moment creation. After toying with a completely round bottle code-named “Seed” for half a year and investing a six-figure sum on development and sourcing, one night Handy thought up a simple cube container. He admits that he was high on flu medication at the time.
“Seed was stunning, everyone said so,” says the designer. “But you couldn’t place it properly on store shelves or in the shower. When the team saw the cube, they all just went: ‘Great!’” It took two weeks to throw out all the previous work and go with the simple blocks. They are manufactured in Taiwan since no US manufacturer could meet the demanding specs.
“It’s a big, risky leap for Method,” admits co-founder Eric Ryan, who has big plans for the eco-brand. He already has the next radical idea up his sleeve: to put the full list of ingredients on all of Method’s cleaning products. “Transparency – it’s not required and nobody does it. We will.”
Bloq is available at Duane Reade:
www.duanereade.com and Target www.target.com Prices range from $6 to $8 (€4 to €6).
In Beirut, however bad things get, business rarely comes to halt. So just two blocks from Hezbollah’s ongoing demonstration, the massive 110,000 sq m Beirut Souk project – a combined retail, leisure and residential scheme – is firmly back on track. The first part should open later this summer, with the rest by 2009. Part-designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo and Australian Kevin Dash, it will include hotels, two museums and a department store operated by luxury retailers Aishti.
Has sunny Bulgaria become a little too popular with British, German and Swedish holidaymakers and bargain holiday home hunters? Well, the country’s airports are certainly struggling to cope with the ever-increasing passenger traffic. Bulgarian carriers transported 744,000 passengers in 2006, up 27.4 per cent on 2005. Sofia International Airport (pictured) handled two million passengers last year, and its new Terminal 2 was opened in December 2006.
Bulgaria’s two other major airports, Varna and Bourgas, near popular Black Sea resorts, are expanding to cope with the influx too. The German airport operator Fraport, which runs the concessions, says construction of new passenger terminals at both airports will begin next year. The initial investment will be around €45m.
New York has become an unlikely space-exploration hub. Hi-tech firm Honeybee, which is headquartered in the city, is currently making the first extreme-temperature motors, capable of functioning at 460c, for missions to Venus (previous missions have had to be aborted because of the intense heat). In August, Honeybee will also launch the Icy Soil Aquisition Device, a scoop for digging trenches on Mars.
But the product it’s currently proudest of is the RAT, or Rock Abrasion Tool. Roughly the size of a Coke can, it also weighs scarcely more than one, and it’s the first machine to penetrate rocks on another planet.
The RAT is attached to the arm of Nasa’s Mars Rover, which holds it in place as its tiny synthetic-diamond teeth gnaw at the planet’s surface, nibbling off a fraction of a millimetre at a time for spectroscopic analysis. It has been hard at work since the Rover first touched down in 2004, and is only now nearing the end of its lifespan.
“We are communicating with Mars in our control room over there,” says the company’s founder Stephen Gorevan, pointing from his office to a row of cubicles where his engineers tap out instructions on laptops.
The distance between Earth and Mars varies from 20 to 40 million miles. The conceptual distance between New York and the traditional centres of space exploration may be even greater. But Gorevan, a large, imperturbable man with a Jim Jarmuschian shock of white hair, grew up in New York and founded Honeybee there in 1983, and he believes the location is attractive to Nasa employees. “The people we do business with – from Texas and Florida and California – vie for position to be the point of contact – because they get to go to New York.”
Honeybee’s newest client is power company Con Edison, for which it is developing a new solution to the problem of leaking steam pipes. This is a 9ft-long robotic inchworm that will scuttle through heating ducts locating leaking pipes, cleaning their seams with a milling operation, and then welding them shut, at a fraction of the cost of having to dig up an entire street.
In Lima, a messianic chef named Gastón Acurio is trying to save his country through food. “Behind our very dear national cuisine,” he recently told an audience of university students, “there are opportunities to create concepts that could generate huge benefits to Peru – financially and for our country’s brands.”
The son of a prominent senator, Acurio trained in Paris and opened his first restaurant in Lima as a temple of French cuisine before having crisis of conscience.
“I realised that my job was not to find wild mushrooms in France – I had a thousand Amazonian and Andean fruits and wild herbs. My job was not to make boeuf bourguignon; there are 200 different stews in Peru. It was the food, the ingredients, that made me appreciate my country.”
Within months he turned Astrid y Gastón into a showcase for traditional Peruvian ingredients, and in the process more or less invented an indigenous haute cuisine. Acurio has since opened branches in five Latin American cities and is planning two more in Mexico City and Madrid. He’s launched his own versions of the country’s classic bistros, cebicherías, sandwich shops, and anticucho stands, with an eye for their appeal to foreign diners.
But before foodies start complaining about sacrificing authenticity, consider that an anticucho is a kebab, that the most popular kind in Lima is made from beef heart, and Acurio has every intention of offering these at his franchises.
He sees himself not just as an entrepreneur but as a colonist in reverse, whose restaurants will serve as outposts of a Peruvian gastronomic empire. “Imagine a scenario where, when we stroll about a European city we find an anticucho shack beside a pizza parlour, a cebichería next to a sushi bar. Then we must imagine all the benefits that will bring about.”
So what are those benefits? Why should Peru push cebicherías – raw fish restaurants – when it can push copper, zinc, even bird excrement? One answer is that nations that export raw materials are vulnerable to foreign-owned processors and distributors, and to the volatility of global markets. One of the few inalienable sources of value is brand, and one of the things most amenable to branding is food.
This is something France recognised when it established appellations d’origine contrôlées for its wines and cheeses. The AOC on a bottle of Beaujolais-Villages is a certificate of quality and authenticity, and plenty of people will pay extra for it. And what can be done for a specific product can also be done for an entire cuisine.
As recently as the 1980s foreigners came to Spain to swim and sunbathe, but they didn’t come there to eat. According to Jeffrey Shaw at the New York office of the Spanish Trade Commission, Spain spent several years painstakingly branding its national cuisine. Shaw sent delegations of foreign chefs, food writers and magazine editors to El Bulli, the Costa Brava restaurant whose genius was the inventive chef Ferran Adrià. It wasn’t long before Adrià was proclaimed the “Dalí of the kitchen” and Spain was threatening France’s hegemony in haute cuisine.
At the same time, Shaw and his colleagues were conducting a similar campaign for Spanish cheeses, for the quince paste membrilla and its artisanal “breads”. “Those products occupy a miniscule niche in the US market, but they generate $3bn (€2.74bn) in sales, and they create a greater demand for other Spanish products and for Spanishness.”
Can Peru replicate Spain’s success? “We have resources, we have traditions,” Acurio says, “and if we start looking at them as brands, we can go around the world and sell them.”
With high-rise property developments springing up all over the city, Tokyo property companies are queuing up to hire famous faces to front their publicity campaigns. From Richard Gere to Ryuichi Sakamoto, stars have been plugging swish new apartment complexes. Leonardo DiCaprio is currently plastered all over the Tokyo subway, lending his star wattage to a new housing project from Orix Real Estate. Now Madonna is the face of Tokyo Tatemono’s new 33-storey tower in Ariakem, Tokyo Bay. Bearing the unlikely name of Brillia Mare, this yet-to-be-opened mega-development – with interiors by Tokyo favourites Super Potato – boasts 1,000 apartments, a rooftop spa, an indoor pool and gardens. The PR blitz is underway with a TV commercial featuring Madonna shot by Steven Klein. Show apartments open in May.
International dredging company Royal Boskalis Westminster had a bumper year – net profits increased 60 per cent to a record level of €100m in 2006. With beaches from the Dominican Republic to Miami eroding and threatening tourism, Boskalis’s land reclamation services are in great demand. Its state-of-the-art jumbo dredgers transport sand from deeper waters back to the beach. The Dominican Republic just paid over €12m to “rejuvenate” and extend Cabarete beach in Punta Plata. Watch this space: Sand could be the next big brand.
Porsche, Jaguar, Mark Levinson, Krell, Runco, Viking. Every sector of consumer technology has its high end. A conspicuous omission, however, has been PCs – it’s hard to talk about a high end in an industry of $600 (around €450) desktops.
There is, however, Alienware, a line of ultra-sleek, ultra-fast computers whose flagship models, the Aurora mALX 19” notebook and the Area-51 ALX desktop, start at $4,499 and $6,049 respectively. The latter features Intel’s quad-core Core 2 Extreme QX6700 CPU running at 2.66 GHz, NVIDIA’s nForce 6 graphics chipset, and two GeForce 8800 GTX video cards in SLI configuration. To fully appreciate these stats one has to be a gamer.
Company directors Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila built their first computers because they couldn’t buy any that were fast or powerful enough for the flight simulators back in the mid-1990s.
“Alienware is the only big company that makes stylish computers for geeks,” says Clive Thompson, technology writer for The New York Times. “They’re really big geeks who got the idea of what you, the geek customer, would want,” he says.


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MARCO ISLAND, Fla. — Marco Island police officers took a stroll around the city with The Grinch to remind residents to lock their car doors this holiday season.
The Grinch is best known for planning to ruin Christmas in the village of Whoville, but SWFL residents are getting the upper hand.
Officers took The Grinch on a stroll through Marco Island to tell people how they can keep their valuables safe from his shenanigans.
Remembering to lock car doors and secure valuables helps prevent mischief from The Grinch.
Also, The Grinch knows how many people are shopping online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so monitor your delivery dates and make sure packages don’t sit on your porch for too long. The longer a package sits on a doorstep, the more likely it is to be taken.
Remind kids to never open the door to strangers.
Don’t let The Grinch know what presents Santa brought you got this year. Never put the boxes your gifts came in out on the curb in plain sight with the trash and recycling. Break the boxes down into smaller pieces and put them in the bottom of the trash can.
If you’re traveling, put your lights on a timer so your home is never dark and ask a trusted neighbor to remove door tags and newspapers from the front of your home.
People who follow these tips will help prevent the greedy Grinch from stealing Christmas in Southwest Florida.


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New research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia reveals that tumor necrosis factor (TNF), an immune system regulatory protein that promotes inflammation, also helps regulate sensitivity to bitter taste. The finding may provide a mechanism to explain the taste system abnormalities and decreased food intake that can be associated with infections, autoimmune disorders, and chronic inflammatory diseases. In addition to its role in mediating inflammation, TNF has been implicated in the progression of varied diseases ranging from Alzheimer's disease to cancer. "Reduced food intake and associated malnutrition is a significant concern that affects the long-term prognosis of many people who are very ill," said senior author Hong Wang, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Monell. "Our findings reveal that bitter taste is regulated by the immune system. Specifically, TNF may make sick people more sensitive to bitterness so that foods taste more bitter and less appetizing." Dr. Wang's research focuses on interactions between the taste and immune systems, with the goal of identifying how taste cell function changes in disease states. As part of this effort, previous research from her laboratory had demonstrated that taste buds contain several immune system proteins, including TNF. Because TNF is known to suppress food intake, the current study asked whether TNF affects food intake via the taste system. The findings were published online on April 21, 2015 in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. To examine whether TNF helps regulate taste responses, the researchers first compared taste responses of normal mice to those of mice engineered to be lacking the gene for TNF (TNF knockout mice).
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Building a more efficient, resilient and sustainable global trade is the strategic transformation driven by Rodolphe Saadé, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Welcome to our News & Media room, your one-stop media and information center. Keep abreast of the latest updates on APL services, rates and tariffs by subscribing to APL customer advisories.Subscribe to Newsletter
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One document to learn everything there is to know about our corporate social responsibility actions, commitments and results.
With biomethane, a non-fossil energy, the CMA CGM Group provides customers with a new and immediately available solution, bringing the Group a step closer toward carbon neutrality.
APL, a shipping specialist serving the U.S. Government and a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, has completed unloading operations of U.S. Military cargo yesterday at Dunkirk, France.
CMA CGM launches ACT with CMA CGM+, a full range of value-added services enabling its customers to reduce their environmental impact
The CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, is launching ACT with CMA CGM+, an array of solutions, helping its customers lighten their environmental footprint and make their cargo carbon neutral.
The CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, today announced several Thanksgiving initiatives to support Americans in need, including the donation of 10,000 turkeys and thousands of meals to help make celebrating the holidays possible for families nationwide.
The CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE joins the fleet: the first 23 000 TEU container vessel in the world to be powered by liquefied natural gas
The CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE has joined CMA CGM Group’s fleet thus becoming the largest LNG-powered container ship in the world.
The CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, continues the simplification of its container trade offering.
CMA CGM Group's First Quarter 2020 Results: Solid operating performance and resilient business activity
The Board of Directors of the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, met under the chairmanship of Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, to review the financial statements for the first quarter of 2020.
Every day the 110, 000 employees of the CMA CGM Group strive to maintain our shipping and logistics activity running in every country during the pandemic.


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From Carlos Monteiro
Like the shape of the earth, nutritional epidemiology has not been immune to false controversy
Contradictions are inherent in science. It is they who fascinate the scientist, break his head, wake up and sleep and think about a solution to a particular problem.
For example, it was known that excess salt, fat and sugar favored the development of chronic non-communicable diseases (including diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity). After a certain moment, there was a decrease in the purchase of these ingredients while the rate of chronic illnesses in the Brazilian population only increased. And then? After much deliberation, they found that their purchases were declining as the habit of buying ready-to-eat, ultra-processed products increased – very high in salt, fat, and sugar.
However, there are very well established ideas that encounter contradictions in the Extracience universe. Perhaps the strangest thing is terraplanism – aided by people who can travel in search of the edge of the earth. In the meantime, NASA and SpaceX are launching the first manned mission to the International Space Station.
Nutritional epidemiology has not been immune to false controversy either. In September this year, a letter from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply requested the Ministry of Health to revise the nutritional guide for the Brazilian people. The document was based on a “technical note” written with the clear intention of withdrawing guidelines for ultra-processed products. To quote a playfully absurd argument, it has been suggested that, with the exception of breast milk, no food contains all of the nutrients the human body needs. Ultra-processed or fresh foods would therefore also be unbalanced. In other words, a banana and sausage would be equivalent – in fact, they could be tasted together on the edge of the earth while admiring the universe below.
The recommendation contradicts a number of studies – including systematic reviews and meta-analyzes of those studies – that have linked consumption of ultra-processed products to higher risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease, among others . This is not a controversy.
Perhaps more damaging than denialism is scientific opportunism, which does not refute the knowledge generated but appropriates the evidence to distort it.
The “Tech Note” and the Brazilian Association of the Food Industry (Abia), keen to sell ultra-processed products, said the Brazilian guide is considered one of the worst in the world. To do this, they cited a study by Anna Herforth (Harvard) and Marco Springmann (Oxford) published in the British Medical Journal in July. The ranking of food guides from 97 countries – Brazil took 86th place.
As soon as they found out about the quotation of the work in the Abia communiqué, Herforth and Springmann accused the document of “rough interpretation” and “misappropriating scientific publications”. And they said the study was far from a ranking to assess the extent to which consumption levels of certain food groups like meat and vegetables are in line with goals set for the health of individuals and the planet.
Understanding that food combinations can make a healthy diet possible, the Brazilian guide mainly gives qualitative indications without specifying the consumption levels for each food group. For this reason, the “degree of uncertainty” with regard to the recommendations and objectives was rated as “high”. This “does not mean that the recommendations are bad or need to be revised, but that they have not been quantified in order to achieve certain goals,” say Herforth and Springmann.
The authors’ position proved to be a good antidote to scientific opportunism. Who knows if this is the way to prove that the opportunists like the terraplanists are unfortunately wrong.
Carlos Monteiro is Professor in the Department of Nutrition of the Faculty of Public Health at the University of São Paulo and Scientific Coordinator of the Center for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Health (Nupens / USP).
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On July 1, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), under the leadership of new Chair Lina Khan, held the first open Commission meeting in a series of announced monthly meetings. It was interesting to watch, and I have high hopes that Chair Khan, an accomplished Columbia University Law professor who was one of the lead authors of last year’s House report on Competition in Digital Markets, truly understands Big Tech’s market shenanigans. This is why what happened near the end of the meeting surprised me.
The meeting announcement stated that the “Commission will invite members of the public to share feedback on the Commission’s work…and bring relevant matters to the Commission’s attention.” And indeed, invited speakers were mostly small players, like small restaurant owners, independent pharmacy owners, family grocers, family farmers, IT repair providers that electronic companies are trying to kill, etc. Other speakers spoke on behalf of associations that oppose Big Tech practices including Athena, Free Press, and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. However, it was surprising to see a speaker for the ACT App Association selected to speak, supposedly on behalf of small business interests.
The ACT App Association should really be called the ACT Apple Association. It was founded in 1998 by Microsoft as a lobbying arm utilizing smaller player’ as a front to support its defense against antitrust charges on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the years, it remained a vehicle for Big Tech interests. Although hard to find (and strategically placed off the members’ page), if you scroll all the way down this page you see the ACT App(le) association’s main sponsors are Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Verizon, and AT&T (other recent sponsors have included Facebook, Oracle, and eBay).
I have written about this “hide behind a supposed app association” charade last year. Since then, we’ve seen real app developers fight for their lives in the Epic Games vs. Apple litigation. However, the ACT App Association filed an amicus brief in support of… Apple (!), and its blog similarly takes Apple’s side. So why is an “app association” opposed to app developers’ interests?
As Florian Mueller recently explained:
“the only organization at the moment that definitely represents developer interests is the Coalition for App Fairness. … Unfortunately, there are a couple of other organizations pretending to represent app developers, but in reality they’re lobbying fronts for large corporations:
- ACT | The App Association says it “enjoys the support of top companies in the mobile economy.” The first logo that webpage shows (near the bottom of the page I linked to) is Apple’s. . . .
- The Developers Alliance (previously known as “Application Developers Alliance”) is effectively a Google front”
I hope the FTC understands why the association’s small app developers supposedly support Apple in the Epic v. Apple litigation, why these app developers supposedly care so strongly about standards essential patents (although app developers are never required to take SEP licenses), or how these app developers have the resources to support a 22-employee trade association. The answer is easy. It’s because the ACT App(le) Association represents Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Verizon and AT&T – not app developers.
Also misleading is the Association’s claim at last week’s hearing to represent “thousands of small business software application development companies…located across every state in America.” The Association’s membership page lists thirty entities. Ten of these are European entities surprisingly listed without websites. The remaining ones include a venture capital company, a marketing company, a design company, and at least one entity that appears to be out of business. It is unclear how the remaining dozen or so entities amount to “thousands of small [app developers] … located across every state in America.”
In short, this group is Big Tech masquerading as small business. It bears no resemblance to the small businesses and legitimate public interest organizations who spoke at the open meeting. For the ACT App(le) association to pretend to be an association of little guys is deceptive, at best. Instead of inviting them to speak, maybe the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection should be investigating them and their sponsors for this misrepresentation.


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Mazda CX 5 2019 Concept Specs Review
Mazda CX 5 2019. We have been waiting patiently for Mazda news at the official launch of the Mazda CX-5 2019, but we have not yet announced when you will reach agents such as Royal South in Bloomington, IN. There have been some leaked information about new features and features that include engine alignment and equipment level. A lot of speculation has been launched at the launch date of the very new Mazda model later, and we will share with you our best estimate when the 2019 CX-5 appears in the showroom. New erotic features below.
The Mazda CX-5 2019 will be a 2018 remnant, meaning most exterior design and interior features will remain the same. The Mazda CX-5 is already decorated with KODO’s impressive concept of Soul of Motion, which brings the Mazda CX-5 2019 to life even in a deadlock. The CX-5 2019 will again be equipped with the powerful and efficient SKYACTIV® engine, but the 2019 model will add the four-cylinder dynamic SKYACTIV® engine option. The 2.5T 4-cylinder engine was an option for the Mazda CX-9 2018 and produced 227 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of 2018 CX-9 torque and is expected to have similar performance specifications by 2019 Mazda CX-5
Mazda CX-5 2019 will also add another finishing option, the Firm, which will allow buyers to find the specifications and features that best suit them. Some of the features that can be found in the Mazda CX-5 2019 include a 7-inch color touchscreen with MAZDA CONNECT® entertainment and entertainment system, push button, leather steering wheel and gear knob, available power – Sliding sunroof is not too early to thrill On the arrival of the Mazda CX-5 2019 at the Royal South Mazda in Bloomington, IN it is currently in production and all indicators indicate the launch date from start to end of November 2018.


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The FCC has continually attempted to salvage regulatory power in the face of last month’s court decision. While the fate of net neutrality remains undecided, in the legal sense of the word, ISP’s and Internet-based companies are starting to make some very non-neutral moves. Netflix is buying preferential treatment from Comcast, and Verizon is circling with its hands out too.
Net neutrality is a simple concept: Everything moves as fast as its servers will allow. No throttling or boosting services for political, corporate or financial gain. But according to Jon Brodkin, senior IT reporter for Ars Technica, Netflix’s speeds have been dropping on Comcast and Verizon networks for months.
That’s not to say that ISP’s are throttling Netflix, at least not directly. Comcast and Verizon could simply slow down the progress of upgrading their networks. As Netflix starts to expand into ‘Super HD,’ and it expands its customer base, it is effectively held hostage by limited Internet speeds.
This leaves Netflix between a rock and a hard place in terms of net neutrality. Either the company can stay true to its politics, at the cost of its growth, or it can strike deals with ISPs like Comcast for a direct line to consumers. Netflix has opted for the latter, and while that’s good news for consumers in the short term, it could become a problem later.
These kinds of deals can lead to certain services and websites only working at their best on certain providers. But ISPs are notorious for carving up service areas, and thus a lot of consumers will only have one option in their area. If this kind of deal were to become the norm, competition among online services could be squashed. Startups would have to either pay the piper, or get stuck on a slow connection.
The whole thing could end up being a double edged sword for all involved. Perhaps Comcast will upgrade its networks with the money from Netflix, and the rising tide will lift all boats. But there isn’t really a best case scenario here; the Internet fast lane has arrived.
Image credit: believekevin


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02/25/2014, Disasters can come upon us in the blink of an eye without us knowing any better. Take volcanic eruptions for instance – that, as well as a tsunami or an earthquake could just happen in a split second without any prior notice, leading to untold loss of lives as well as damage to property. In the event of a natural disaster, setting up a communications line is extremely important, and […]
01/27/2014, It seems that AT&T can’t catch a break these days when it comes to bidding on other companies. According to our report from earlier, it seemed that AT&T was willing to bid for UK carrier, Vodafone, and was willing to pay as much as $80 billion for the company. Unfortunately it seems that was not the case as AT&T has since released a statement announcing that they do not have […]
01/26/2014, European telecom juggernaut Vodafone has agreed to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications for $130 billion, the shareholders of both companies meet next Tuesday to vote on the deal. Vodafone might have agreed to end its association with a U.S. carrier, but if rumors are true, it may end up being acquired by one. Rumor has it that AT&T is willing to offer as much a […]
11/11/2013, Vodafone has just unveiled that they too, have their very own branded smartphone that is known as the Vodafone Smart 4G. This particular handset is also the first from the mobile carrier to carry LTE connectivity, where the manufacturer of the Smart 4G would be Coolpad of China. Hence, it goes without saying that this is starting to shape up to be an extremely affordable device. The Vodafone Smart 4G […]
11/11/2013, Remember our story that we ran last week about an iPad which exploded? Well, back then we did mention that chances of identifying the correct iPad that burst into flames was one in four, since Apple is selling four different kinds of iPad models at the moment, but it seems that the iPad Air is now out of running from the race (which is a good thing for those who […]
10/31/2013, Vodafone is the largest mobile carrier in Europe and AT&T reportedly wants a piece of it. Bloomberg reports today that AT&T’s employees are internally “laying the groundwork” for a takeover of Vodafone as soon as next year. Apparently both companies have yet to enter formal negotiations, but AT&T is said to be focusing on which Vodafone assets it would retain and which could be sold off to others if a […]
09/12/2013, Vodafone Germany announced today that its servers were targeted by a hacker recently, which resulted in an illegal intrusion. The hacker was able to steal data of more than 2 million accounts. Data included names, date of birth, gender, bank account numbers, bank sort code and addresses. Vodafone says that despite the intrusion, customers’ credit card data, passwords, phone numbers and call data was not stolen. The carrier believes that […]
09/08/2013, A couple of weeks ago rumors were circulating that Verizon might finalize a deal with Vodafone to buy the latter’s 45 percent stake. Last week Verizon finally announced that the deal had been reached to the tune of $130 billion. Under the deal, Verizon pays the British telecommunications giant $59 billion in cash and another $60 billion in its stock and other considerations. A lawsuit has now been filed in a New […]
09/02/2013, It was rumored last week that both Verizon Wireless and Vodafone were having discussions over a possible buyout of the latter’s 45 percent stake in Verizon. Vodafone had confirmed the talks a few days ago. Yesterday it was rumored that both parties might make an official announcement on Monday, which is today. The rumor has turned out to be true. Verizon Wireless has just confirmed the $130 billion deal which […]
09/01/2013, Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc currently holds a 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S. Last week it was rumored that both parties were involved in discussions regarding a possible buyout of Vodafone’s stake, analysts believe such a deal might cost Verizon around $130 billion. Vodafone confirmed the talks a few days ago but an agreement has not been reached as of now. According to Reuters, […]
08/29/2013, Earlier today rumors were circulating that Verizon Wireless is currently in talks with Britain’s Vodafone to buy back the latter’s 45 percent stake in the largest U.S. carrier. Vodafone has now confirmed that talks are indeed underway, adding that there’s “no certainty” that both parties will reach an agreement. Analysts expect that if a deal is reached, it may be worth up to $125 billion, making it one of the biggest deals […]
07/15/2013, Vodafone also wants a slice of the tablet pie, and in order to achieve that, they have plans to introduce a couple more tablets to the market that will continue from where the Vodafone Smart Tab II tablets left off after being introduced in 2012. The thing is, these tablets from Vodafone would be manufactured by the good people over at Lenovo, and courtesy of the Bluetooth SIG, we do […]
06/19/2013, Vodafone's Power Pockets juice up your smartphone while you sleep.
06/19/2013, Vodafone debuted its Power Shorts this past weekend, which uses kinetic energy to keep your mobile device charged.


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Seoul: Samsung Electronics on Friday said its second-quarter operating profit likely rose 72 per cent from a year earlier to a new record, beating analyst estimates, as strong memory chip prices helped widen margins.
Revenue likely rose 18 per cent from a year earlier to 60 trillion won, versus analysts' forecast of 59 trillion won.
On Tuesday, the company said it would invest $18.6 billion to extend its lead in memory chips and next-generation displays.
Samsung did not elaborate on its April-June performance and will disclose detailed results at the end of July. Even so, analysts have tipped its chip division to propel the firm to record overall profit.
Samsung estimated a record quarterly operating profit for April-June, propelled by a memory chip boom that analysts say will continue to pad margins for the rest of 2017.
The robust estimates reinforce expectations for best-ever earnings for Samsung this year, fuelled by a so-called memory chip supercycle. Analysts predict shortages for both DRAM and NAND chips to persist for the rest of this year due to limited supply growth and demand for more computing power on smartphones and servers, padding margins for memory makers.
Another profit driver has also emerged in the form of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. Samsung has a stranglehold on the market for the bendy, next-generation screens which are widely expected to be used for Apple's latest iPhones, due out by October.
"In July DRAM prices will go up again, while from mid-August on, OLED panels go out for Apple," HMC Investment analyst Greg Roh said. He expects Samsung's third-quarter operating profit to exceed 15 trillion won.


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ANALYSIS: PayPal is rolling out a feature that allows users to transfer money instantly to their banks accounts. For now the feature is limited to users who have supported Visa and Mastercard debit cards linked to their PayPal accounts. The feature is aimed at eliminating a point of friction that PayPal needs to address as rivals […]
NYS Entity Status
NYS Filing Date
MARCH 20, 2014
NYS DOS ID#
NYS Entity Type
DOMESTIC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
2014 - PALS XIV, LLC
AROUND THE WEB
- PayPal adds instant bank transfers — and not a minute too soon
By Kevin Kelleher - Tuesday Jun 20, 2017
- Fit City: Taking Night-Life Cue, Gyms Lower the Lights
By TATIANA BONCOMPAGNI - Tuesday Jun 13, 2017
Cycling, boxing and running studios, as well as some full-service gyms, are using sophisticated lighting systems to heighten the exercise experience.
- Officer’s Journey to Gay Pride Honoree Marks a Town’s Progress
By SARAH MASLIN NIR - Wednesday Jun 14, 2017
Matt Stanislao complained of homophobic remarks from fellow officers in Glen Rock, N.J., and was fired. He’s back on the job, but little else is the same.
- Rooted in Counterculture, Whole Foods’ Founder Finds an Unlikely Refuge
By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and ALEXANDRA STEVENSON - Friday Jun 16, 2017
John Mackey wanted to fight off the activist investors attacking Whole Foods. He found a savior in Amazon, a company blamed for laying waste to retailers.
- Film Clip: 'My Cousin Rachel'
Wednesday Jun 7, 2017
Watch a clip from "My Cousin Rachel," starring Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, and Iain Glen. Photo: Fox Searchlight
- The Scene at Designer Jason Wu's 'Just Friends' Dinner
Thursday Jun 22, 2017
Pals like Kate Bosworth, Leandra Medine and Jennifer Fisher joined the New York designer at Clover Grocery to celebrate his latest collaboration.
- Critic's Notebook: Foreign Horror TV Shows Are Light on Monsters, Heavy on Mood
By MIKE HALE - Friday Jun 16, 2017
On the streaming service Shudder, foreign series like “Jordskott” and “Penance” offer a classic psychological dread that’s in short supply on American TV.
- Always be ...
Wednesday Mar 8, 2017
John Trahar, founder and strategic creative lead at Greatest Common Factory, closed the Brand Marketers Insider Summit "tip sheet" panel by posing question that may be the greatest tip of all: Whatshould brands always be doing to engage their consumers? Invoking the famous Alec Baldwin delivered line in "Glengarry Glen Ross" line -- "always be closing" -- Trahar said, "Always be what?"


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- Government eyes new emissions-based tax system for vans
- Successful car tax system could provide solution for vans
- Manufacturers supportive but acknowledge there are challenges
Following the SMMT’s recommendation that LCV Vehicle Exercise Duty (VED) should be reformed, industry leaders are adamant that alterations are now inevitable.
At the launch of the all new Mitsubishi L200, Mitsubishi UK managing director said he expects the van tax changes to happen “before 2018”.
Success with car tax
The European Union has been encouraging UK authorities to reduce greenhouse gases for decades, and the emission tax for cars, introduced in 2001, has helped curb tailpipe emissions.
Further incentives, like the ‘free’ road tax for low emission vehicles (less than 100g/km), has witnessed sales of plug-in vehicles increased fourfold to 14,498 in 2014 to the highest in Europe.
However for vans, it remained the same flat rate of £230 for vehicles with an engine size of 1,549cc or more, and £145 for engines less than 1,549cc. Under the proposals, this will change to a scheme similar to that of cars; however, there is an obvious disadvantage for the larger vans.
Unsuitable for LCVs
“When considering reforms to the LCV market, additional considerations are needed with respect to the usage of vans. A graduated VED system structured in the same way as the current system for cars in the UK would lead to those vans with low load capacities attracting the lowest rates and the largest vans attracting the highest rates”, the report states.
Opponents argue that this could lead some van buyers to choose vans too small for their operations, and having to make two trips instead of one which leads to increased running costs and emissions. This key issue was highlighted in the report.
“Many van users may require the full capacity offered by the largest vans in order to sustain business needs. From an environmental perspective, it is optimal for users to make single trips in the correctly sized (albeit larger, more CO2 emitting vans) than having to make multiple trips in smaller vans.
As a result, a graduated VED system for LCVs should be based upon CO2 emissions per tonne of loading capacity in order to control for the impact of vehicle size on emissions”.
The response from the manufacturers has been positive. All European LCV manufacturers have been focussing on the upcoming Euro-6 legislation, so emissions have been a top priority.
Ford, for example, is developing an all-new 2-litre engine for the Ford Ranger, Ford Transit Custom and Ford Transit, with fuel efficiency and emissions playing the biggest roles.
“Mitsubishi has been working hard over the past decade to reduce the carbon footprint of its vehicles, so we welcome the changes”, explains Lance Bradley, Managing Director of Mitsubishi Motors UK.
“Our new 2015 Mitsubishi L200 has the lowest emissions in its class, and we launched the very first plugin 4x4 commercial, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, last year. Our products are very well placed for the proposals”.
Obviously, large changes to van tax are going to have a huge effect on buying characteristics, with more buyers choosing cleaner vans.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean lower powered vans; many higher output van nowadays, like the Vauxhall Vivaro Bi-Turbo (119bhp), are cleaner and more efficient than entry level models, so this legislation is unlikely to be a killjoy.


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Plastic waste is an ongoing crisis across the globe. Not only does plastic waste affect the environment and animals; microplastics have now been discovered in human blood. In addition to this, if individuals, the government and businesses fail to seek alternative ways to reduce the use of plastic; the production is said to quadruple by 2050. Methods such as refill have risen as a solution to plastic pollution. For people to adapt and practise this, businesses and the government need to avail ways to promote refill to customers.
How can businesses promote refill and become eco friendly.
Businesses have an immense influence on customers and consumers. Numerous businesses are aware of the plastic waste crisis but what is being done to resolve this issue? Unilever and its partners have outlined four models for refillable and reusable consumer products. All these models are informing the pilot projects that they run. Unilever Food Solutions is also being explored by Unilever and this provides products for the hospitality sector and also saves plastic. The 4 models are:
- Refill at home: This is where the consumers reuse packaging that is by refilling at home
- Refill on the go: Where people go shop and refill their containers via dispenser systems at the store
- Return from home: Where consumers can arrange for the packaging to be taken from their homes and refilled
- Return on the go: This is when consumers bring back packaging and leave it at a drop-off point where its collected by manufacturers.
Other ways to promote refill:
1. To encourage people to buy refillable bottles, invest in reusable coffee mugs as this saves from the production of 500 billion takeaway coffee cups.
2. Encourage people to refill their empty laundry products at zero waste stores and fill up on everything
Smartfill aims to shape a sustainable world and makes the refill experience easier and also affordable by availing dispensers that allow people to use with their refillable containers and consequently eliminating the need to packaging.


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Shattered Horizon: Brand-new screenshots of the DX10 shooter game
Futuremark has released new screenshots of the Space Shooter Shattered Horizon. The new pictures show an enhanced graphics.
News about Futuremark's Shattered Horizon: The Beta has not been started yet, but on the latest pictures you can see the current state of the graphics development. The visual appearance looks different from what has been show last year - and it looks much better, too. In our gallery you can find the new screenshots of Shattered Horizon which is based on the 3D Mark Vantage Engine.
Shattered Horizon Beta System Requirements
• OS: Windows Vista
• DirectX 10 graphics card
• Dual-core CPU
• Steam account
• Broadband internet
Futuremark has not specified a official release date yet, but according to rumors Shattered Horizon will not be released until late 2009.
PC-Spiele 2017: Games-Liste mit Release-Terminen [Update: Far Cry 5, FIFA 18, PES 2018, The Crew 2]


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Latin America retail: It’s ‘very competitive’ with ‘very powerful local players’, says expert
Latin America’s food and beverage retail scene is extremely vibrant but also fiercely competitive with a stronghold of local majors, so entering requires forward-thinking and a strong partnership strategy, an expert says.
Latin America now boasts more than 1,800 shopping centers, each spanning more than 10,000 square meters, with a large majority in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, according to Lizan Retail Advisors, and Walmart, Falabella and Liverpool are three of the region’s retail heavyweights.
Speaking to FoodNavigator-LATAM, Jorge Lizan, director of Lizan Retail Advisors, described Latin American retail was “very competitive”.
“You’ve got very powerful, local players in every single sector,” Lizan said.
In grocery, for example, he said there was some international presence but many multinationals had experienced “mixed results” , even majors like Carrefour – the second-largest retailer in the world.
Carrefour, he said, had a dominant presence in Brazil and Argentina but had tried and failed to gain traction in Mexico, entering around 20 years ago through a two-year partnership but pulling out after ten years operating alone. Walmart, by comparison, had developed its stronghold in Mexico and Central America through an acquisition of a local player around 25 years ago, he said.
‘Investing in the future’
So, what exactly were the top three retailers doing right?
Lizan said Mexican high-end department store chain Liverpool had succeeded through its visuals and store design.
“Liverpool hire the best architects to do their designs, not only the facade but the architectural design within the stores, and you feel really good inside. …Of course, it’s a very high-end concept. It is an experience, it’s not just about going to shop for your groceries. This is how they’re innovating – it’s very visual and attractive –also, in terms of the products they deliver, they have imports from all over the world.”
For Falabella, success pivoted around its commitment to innovation, he said. The Chilean department store had recently committed 80% of its development budget to technology like e-commerce and in-store tools, for example, despite only notching up 14% of sales online. “It’s a huge investment for something that is still a very small part of their business.”
Walmart, he said, was heavily invested in talent and staff for its e-commerce and omni-channels, for example, and had also outlined plans to introduce an array of technologies beyond simple click and collect models.
For any retail looking to enter or expand in Latin America, Lizan said all of this would be crucial to consider but being different was vital.
“My only recommendation would be to try not to compete in the same sector and niche, rather bring something different. If you can bring something innovative; something that’s not in the region already, then the opportunities are huge.”
Partner up! And know your consumer…
For new entrants, Lizan said a strong local partner was a must but no easy task to secure.
“Finding the right partner is a big issue because there are always more brands interested in partnerships with someone than potential partners available. There’s a bit of a bottleneck and it’s a big challenge in Latin America at this point.”
It was also important to fully understand local consumer needs, he said, because they were increasingly demanding and looking for experiences – “they want to feel something when they’re shopping”. And this, he said, was true for every single demographic, irrespective of social or economic standing and applied to every market in the region’s retail scene.
“Of course, the wealthiest consumers can travel anywhere and shop anywhere, so they are very, very demanding but the medium and lower-medium classes are also demanding something that were not asking a few years back. …They are getting used to having more services, more offerings; they are getting used to modern retail and they are always expecting something newer, more innovative and something different. They also want international brands, not only local brands .”
Shopping culture was also very different in Latin America, compared to the US and Europe, Lizan said, because it had long been considered a social gathering place and destination to share a meal. Because of this, he said restaurants held a prime position within the malls but not just typical quick-serves, high-end, chef-driven dining as well.
“This is not a new phenomenon like in the US. In the US, you hardly see fine dining concepts within shopping centers but in Latin America, you can because it’s normal.” Food courts and gourmet markets were also central to the Latin American retail scene and were evolving rapidly which presented an “interesting opportunity” for food and beverage brands, he said.
Opportunities, in general, were everywhere because the region had “one of the most vibrant food and beverage scenes” in retail and generally, Lizan said.


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THERE’S STILL a lot of suspicion around pure-electric vehicles (EVs), and for some car buyers they’re not the answer. But the number of electric cars on sale is increasing rapidly, and so is their appeal, meaning many drivers are taking the plunge. In 2021, electric cars made up 11.6% of all new cars sold, up … Continue reading Is now the time to buy an electric car?
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'Rise of the Tomb Raider' hits PC in January, Steam says
Square Enix previously said 'Tomb Raider' would launch on PC in early 2016.
Lawsuit demands the right to resell Steam games
A French group says you should have the freedom to pass along your digital games.
HTC Vive to demo a 'very big' breakthrough in VR at CES
HTC's CEO promises it's worth the wait.
Street Fighter V is coming to SteamOS
With full Steam Controller support.
Xbox One adds 'Halo: Reach' and 15 more playable 360 titles
A heap of new backwards compatible games.
Steam's item trading system is convoluted to protect you
With 77,000 accounts compromised each month, security is paramount
Steam Machines are slower gaming systems than Windows PCs
Benchmarking shows that a SteamOS machine will be slower than its Windows counterpart using similar hardware.
Steam Controller gives disabled player one-handed 'Skyrim' controls
A thoughtful player made this custom Skyrim control scheme.
We hate Valve's Steam Controller because it's different
Valve's Steam Controller is the Dvorak of the gaming world


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Slater Skins has partnered with The Blue Buffalo Co., a family owned premium natural dog/cat food and treats company, to help support North Carolina privateer Ryan Zimmer this weekend at the Unadilla National. Zimmer is returning from a back injury suffered in Monster Energy Supercross.
Slater Skins provides a unique look to the bike, which they feel helps sponsoring companies gain maximum exposure.
"Our products creates a unique marketing platform that gives clients maximum exposure and this sets us apart from any other sports marketers in this class," said John Slater in a team release. "We have approached this market with the same vision that NASCAR has - create a comprehensive mainstream media outlet for high-end corporate clients to provide maximum BRANDING exposure. Blue Buffalo is the perfect fit, and has chosen capitalize on this market where the majority of fans and enthusiasts are pet parents."
"What an exciting opportunity and sport to be a part of! With the ever-expanding mainstream audience that the sport of motocross/supercross is now tapping into, everyone at Blue Buffalo is excited about the chance to advertise and work with John Slater (Slater Skins) and #79 Ryan Zimmer, in this highly brand loyal market." said David Petrie, The Blue Buffalo Co.


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Petco and PetSmart to Stop Selling Treats Made in China
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration said that since 2007, it has received more than 1,000 reports of dog deaths and nearly 5,000 reports of dog illnesses after the animals had eaten chicken, duck or sweet potato jerky treats made in China.
The FDA has long cautioned pet owners about jerky treats from China, but despite years of investigation, it has not been able to identify a specific cause of the pet illnesses. The agency is continuing to investigate and is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and veterinarians from around the country in its efforts.
Petco said Tuesday it would remove the treats from its 1,300 stores by the end of this year. The company said its customers had urged it to drop Chinese-manufactured treats.
“We know the FDA hasn’t yet identified a direct cause for the reported illnesses, but we decided the uncertainty of the situation outweighs the lack of actual proof,” said Jim Myers, Petco CEO, in a statement.
The company said it has been expanding its selection of products made in the U.S., and also carries products made in New Zealand, Australia and South America.
PetSmart quickly followed suit, saying it planned to take Chinese-made treats off of its shelves by March 2015, reported the AP via ABC News. PetSmart has over 1,200 North American stores.
The FDA also said in its update last week that they’d detected the presence of the human antiviral drug amantadine in some jerky samples containing chicken. But, while the drug shouldn’t be in the treats at all, they didn’t think it had contributed to the illnesses.
In the cases reported to the FDA involving jerky treats, about 60 percent reported gastrointestinal or liver disease, 30 percent kidney or urinary disease, and the remaining 10 percent of complaints included signs of other problems such as neurologic, dermatologic and immunologic symptoms, according to the agency’s update. About 15 percent of the kidney or urinary cases also tested positive for Fanconi syndrome, a rare kidney disease.
The FDA has recommended avoiding jerky treats and urges people to call their veterinarian if they suspect a problem.


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A government-sponsored fashion-culture fair will kick off on Tuesday with an opening ceremony at the J-Gran House in central Seoul.
The 2017 Spring/Summer edition of the "Fashion KODE" hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism aims to connect local designers and international buyers to eventually help domestic brands enter overseas markets.
About 500 domestic and foreign buyers are expected to participate in this year's fair, which runs until Friday.
Apart from the business and networking events, a "Fashion CT(Culture Technology) Zone" will be open for visitors where they can try their hand at pattern making using a 3D design system. A 3-D makeup testing station will also be one of the fair's highlights.
The fair is open to the public and admission is free.


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Algorand, a next-gen blockchain application network, today announced a major release that will empower the creation of more sophisticated apps while marking a milestone for its cross-chain interoperability.
Developers are now able to build complex dapps for the Algorand ecosystem with smart contract-to-contract calling, and network participants can take their first step towards trustless cross-chain interoperability with quantum-secure keys for the upcoming State Proof technology.
These upgrades come on the heels of a $20 million incentive program from the Algorand Foundation focused on developer tooling and EVM compatibility, putting Algorand at the forefront of blockchain interoperability and post-quantum security while providing features advanced decentralized applications.
“With this latest upgrade, Algorand continues its leadership position when it comes to ongoing delivery of highly sophisticated blockchain technology. We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from developers during the beta testing and are excited to roll out these enhancements to the broader blockchain developer ecosystem.”
– Paul Riegle, Chief Product Officer at Algorand
Core elements of this release include:
- Smart contract compatibility with contract-to-contract calls: Allows complex dApps that can efficiently and trustlessly interact with other smart contract-based dApps to extend functionality and usability.
- Post-quantum secure Falcon Keys: These keys will, in the near future, be used to generate State Proofs, a new blockchain infrastructure that will allow Algorand to be trustlessly accessed in low-power environments like mobile phones, smartwatches, and on other blockchains.
These features add to Algorand’s already advanced tech, high performance, and rich developer resources. Accessible to all types of developers, smart contracts on Algorand can be written in Python or Reach.
Since its launch, Algorand has experienced zero downtime, the highly scalable blockchain supports the creation of DeFi protocols, NFTs, payment solutions, regulated digital assets, and more.


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Orange has become the most complained about internet service provider (ISP) in the UK, according to new research.
Ofcom’s quarterly complaints report for July to September 2012 showed the broadband provider racked up the most grievances as a proportion of its customer base, coming in at 0.5 complaints per 1,000 customers. This was up from 0.29 per 1,000 in the three months previous.
The telecoms regulator said there was a big spike in complaints in September, suggesting this had come about due to a change in broadband terms from Orange.
Previously, users had been able to receive free broadband from Orange if they took out a mobile contract with the company. In August, however, Orange sent a letter to its mobile customers informing them they would no longer be entitled to the free broadband unless they paid line rental of £14 per month for a landline.
The move coincided with the launch of EE, which merged Orange and its previous rival T-Mobile into one operator.
Read more about Ofcom
An EE spokesman told Computer Weekly: “We are disappointed by these latest results and will take on board the findings of the Ofcom report as we strive to offer our customers the best service at all times.”
TalkTalk, which has been named the most complained about ISP since Ofcom started publishing the report, finally fell into second place, with complaints dropping from 0.42 to 0.35 per 1,000 customers. However, Ofcom said the number of complaints about TalkTalk “remained higher than the industry average”.
Sky took the prize of least complained about ISP, receiving 0.09 complaints per 1,000 customers.
The Ofcom report also looked at mobile contracts. It revealed that T-Mobile customers complained the most about their operator, receiving 0.17 complaints per 1,000 customers.
While T-Mobile, 3, Orange and Vodafone all received complaints “in excess of the industry average”, O2 got the fewest, with 0.05 complaints per 1,000 customers.


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The Chicken Sandwich Wars may have stirred things up over the years as several fast food chains compete for superiority and consumers’ wallets and taste buds. However, it seems that one chain still stands out above the rest, even if it is not the actual winner of the wars.
Chick-Fil-A, which has sparked controversy over its anti-gay views in the past, is America’s favorite restaurant for the 8th year in a row, according to a new survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). is a fast food restaurant and more consumers prefer full service restaurants.
The New York Post reports that despite a 2.6% drop in satisfaction with fast food restaurants from the previous year, the chain known for its chicken sandwiches and special “Chick-Fil-A” sauce still scores 83. for customer satisfaction, which was the highest in the entire restaurant survey, finishing well above several other chains it competed against for superiority with chicken sandwiches.
KFC scored a 78 on the survey, while Burger King scored a 75 and Wendy’s a 72. Popeyes scored 71 points, and the lowest score of all fast food chains (and those that participated in the chicken sandwich wars) was McDonald’s, with an overall satisfaction score of 68.
Other ranked chains were Jimmy John’s (score of 79), Domino’s (78), Chipotle (77), Panera (77), Pizza Hut (77), Starbucks (77), Arby’s (76), Five Guys (76), Papa Johns (76), Little Caesars (76), Panda Express (75), Subway (75), Dairy Queen (74), Dunkin’ Donuts (74), Sonic (74), Jack in the Box (72) and Taco Bell (72).
Despite McDonald’s ranking lowest, the biggest drop in satisfaction went to Dunkin’, which dropped 4% from 2021.


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EMC named Zane Rowe its new chief financial officer Wednesday, a move that may offer an indication of the direction the company plans to take as it nears a corporate crossroads.
Mr. Rowe, a former Apple executive and United Continental Holdings CFO, succeeds David Goulden, who will remain at the company as CEO of EMC Information Infrastructure.
Mr. Goulden has been serving in a dual role since July 2012 and will now focus on running EMC’s infrastructure business, said a company spokesman Dave Farmer. Mr. Rowe’s appointment is effective immediately and there will be a transition over the next few months. Read More »


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Earlier this month, a little two-person humor web site in Austin, Texas took one of the world’s dominant internet businesses to federal court. Lamebook is not the most elevated of web sites. A compendium of user-submitted screen shots taken from a certain well-known social network, Lamebook promises visitors “the funniest and lamest of Facebook.” The payoff comes in page after page of reproduced wall posts and comments replete with double entendres, LOLs, and declarations of “FAIL.”
According to Lamebook’s legal complaint, Facebook lawyers sent a standard “cease and desist” letter demanding that the site stop using any names or graphics similar to Facebook’s. Trademark attorneys write these letters at the drop of a hat, and the usual response is capitulation. Most of the time, fighting back isn’t worth the headache and cost, even where there is a really good argument against liability. It’s worked for Facebook in the past: the location service TripTrace abandoned its earlier name of “Placebook” after receiving such a letter.
Story Continued Below
Lamebook lawyered up instead. The site is now represented by a firm with a pugnacious New Yorker’s name on the door, Bracewell & Giuliani. After some back-and-forth with Facebook—the two sides dispute how much negotiation occurred—Lamebook launched a preemptive strike. Rather than waiting for Facebook to sue, Lamebook filed the first complaint, seeking a declaratory judgment in Texas federal court that Lamebook does not infringe Facebook’s trademarks. (A few days later, Facebook did sue in California, and now there probably will be some procedural wrangling to see which case moves forward.)
Lamebook’s main argument: free speech principles protect its right to parody Facebook. While there isn’t a clear parody immunity in trademark law, Lamebook can point to some good precedent. Back when Spy Magazine was around, for example, it published its version of a Cliffs Notes “study aid” analyzing novels by Tama Janowitz, Bret Easton Ellis, and Jay McInerney. When Spy was sued, the court found a protected “double parody,” contrasting the “flat, straightforward, academic style” of Cliffs Notes to a genre of “savvy, urban novels depicting the drug abuse, promiscuity, and post-adolescent angst of the 1980s.”
More recently, a small business called “Haute Diggity Dog” won the right to continue making its handbag-shaped “Chewy Vuitton” dog toys after winning a federal case against the Paris fashion retailer. The court there, perhaps overexplaining the joke a tad, declared the toys “a joking and amusing parody. The furry little ‘Chewy Vuiton’ imitation, as something to be chewed by a dog, pokes fun at the elegance and expensiveness of a LOUIS VUITTON handbag, which must not be chewed by a dog.” And the photographer whose “Food Chain Barbie” works “portray a nude Barbie in danger of being attacked by vintage household appliances” also prevailed.
Not H. L. Mencken, perhaps. But if brand owners can stop this kind of mockery, we have a serious problem. Fortunately, the law probably favors the folks at Lamebook—as long as they can survive the grueling obstacle course of federal litigation.
To be sure, the site focuses on the individual “funny and lame” postings featured there. Sometimes we are laughing along with their authors (funny), and sometimes at them (lame). But the joke wouldn’t be as good if it didn’t refer to Facebook too. It works partly because it refracts the image Facebook creates of our collective zeitgeist.
Without some lenience for parody, comment and so-called “nominative use,” it would become impossible even to refer to an iconic brand without using its name, thus infringing on trademark rights. Fortunately, when faced with these disputes, most courts now realize their role as protectors of speech. And even Facebook doesn’t even try to stop use of the company’s trademark in a newspaper story about the company, or go after sites that track it (or, for that matter, in the highly fictionalized and rather negative account of its founding in The Social Network.)
But it’s still problematic that Facebook gets to selectively harass commentary that uses its name—fighting Lamebook, but ignoring blogs like AllFacebook and Inside Facebook. Even if parody ultimately wins in court, it’s so expensive to litigate that big trademark owners can outlast their critics. That’s why Lamebook fighting back is so significant.
For those skeptical of the affirmative case for parody rights, Lamebook also has a negative argument. Most trademark rights are predicated on proving a “likelihood of confusion” among consumers. There isn’t such a likelihood here. Overall, Lamebook bears only a passing resemblance to Facebook. The humor site’s name is similar, of course, and its logo apes Facebook’s characteristic color scheme, font, and thumbs-up icon to indicate when you “like” something (turned downward, of course, in the Lamebook version). But the remaining layout and graphic features are quite different
Moreover, most users will notice quickly that they are laughing at anonymized strangers—names and faces are blurred on Lamebook “to protect the guilty” —rather than interacting with their own friends. The site functions more like a blog, with comments, ratings and categories (including “Douchebags/Douchbagettes” and “TypOHs!”). It’s hard to imagine how anyone could even land on the page thinking it was Facebook, but in the unlikely event, a few seconds should clear up any lingering user confusion.
Certainly this is not the classic trademark case of old, where the second comer imitated a trademark in the hopes of fooling customers and stealing them away. It isn’t even like “Placebook,” which had neither connection to or comment about Facebook and which could not have chosen such a similar name by accident. So if nobody gets tricked into going to Lamebook to share their photos and status updates, what’s the harm?
Facebook argues that Lamebook is guilty of free-riding. It calls Lamebook “an improper attempt to build a brand that trades off Facebook’s popularity and fame.” But not all free-riding is bad, at least for consumers, and not all is confusing. Intellectual property is a monopoly granted because it creates societal benefits, not a premium for creating a successful brand—that’s its own generous reward.
Swayed by these arguments, however, some courts recently became more aggressive about which similarities might confuse consumers. One line of cases recognizes something called “initial interest confusion,” which penalizes uses of trademarks if a viewer might wrongly believe there was a connection to the trademark owner for even a few seconds, and even if the mistake is quickly dispelled.
Such sweeping trademark rights become untenable as our remix culture expands into a retweet culture. In this roiling stew of cross-references and comments, confusion about associations becomes less harmful and less likely, not more.
Finally, there’s this: the best way for Facebook to insure that people visit Lamebook is to continue this lawsuit. According to data from Alexa, traffic to Lamebook went up 82 percent in the week after the lawsuit filing. When Goliath attacks David, David garners attention.
At the same time, Lamebook actually contributes to awareness of Facebook and its giant status. Unlike Second Life, which once sent a joking “proceed and permit” letter to a parody site, Facebook is not easily amused. Smart companies realize that, when they start making fun of your brand, it proves you’ve made it. Facebook, with half a billion active users and a central place in our daily life, can afford to let us laugh at them.
Bill McGeveran is a law professor at the University of Minnesota and brother of Capital co-founder Tom McGeveran.


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© mikhail mishchenko dreamstime.com Electronics Production | April 02, 2015
Global Top50 EMS revenue over USD 265 billion
Manufacturing Market Insider has released its annual Top50 list of the world’s largest EMS providers. In 2014, Top50 sales reached a new high of USD 265 billion – more than USD 10 billion greater than in 2013.
Top 50 sales grew by 4.0% last year, a good growth rate for the top 50 as a whole. Company growth rates in revenue ranged from 50+ percent to -20 percent with the majority exhibiting very positive numbers. Making the Top 50 for 2014 was more difficult than the year before. To qualify for the 2014 list, EMS providers needed a minimum of USD 275 million in sales, compared with the prior year’s cutoff of USD 224 million. MMI Top 50 providers were ranked based on 2014 sales in U.S. dollars. In order, the top ten were:
- Hon Hai
- New Kinpo Group
- Benchmark Electronics
- Shenzhen Kaifa Technology
- Universal Scientific Industrial.


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With “Normal” on the Horizon, Safety Industry Continues to Innovate
In a time when everything else slowed down, the safety industry sped up.
- By Sydny Shepard
- Jun 01, 2022
Just over two years ago, the world fell quiet. Without traffic on the highways, planes in the sky or ships sailing across the sea, people felt a sense of stillness in the middle of what ended up being a year's long storm. While many industries that relied on in-person interactions, such as service, non-essential retail and entertainment, were put on hold, others moved full steam ahead. It was these industries—the ones that never quit—that kept things going moving even through the public’s motionless, new reality.
These industries couldn’t just operate the way they had always known, however. New terms, such as social distancing, virus transmission and quarantine, were added to our daily vernacular. New methods of safe work were created—almost on the fly as more information about the pandemic was made available. These new processes for safe work would not have been possible without an industry of experienced safety manufacturers and solution providers working day and night to create innovative products for the industries that needed them most.
Almost overnight, companies had clear barriers erected, millions of face coverings received and enough gloves and cleaning supplies to last the long haul. Never-before-needed products were manufactured and shipped out as quickly and efficiently as possible to help protect workers in essential industries around the country. The dedication of the safety industry was proven in the darkest time of a global pandemic and it will be recognized and rewarded for many years to come.
While the need for protection from an invisible enemy is no longer in dire need, the safety product manufacturers and solutions providers haven’t stopped innovating. They haven’t stopped creating, inventing and moving forward to help keep workers of all industries safe. In fact, the industry is valued at an all-time high and will continue to grow exponentially as more guidelines, standards and regulations are put in place to protect workers from past, present and future hazards in the workplace.
Currently, the Industrial Safety Market is projected to grow from $6.3 billion in 2022 to $8.8 billion by 2027, that’s a CAGR of 6.8 percent.1 Market researchers have completed studies on the expected growth of the industry and have predicted that more regulation, such as the standards in OSHA’s pipeline for infectious diseases and extreme heat, will continue to drive more purchasing from safety product manufacturers.
Market analysis does show that while the barrier for entry for some safety solutions seems to be pretty high, the costs of not investing in them tend to be more expensive in the long run. Organizations must continue to upgrade their safety systems, not only to keep workers safe, but to stay in accordance with the latest technological advancements and regulation updates.
Speaking of technological advancements, there has been more innovation in bringing the safety industry into the next generation than ever before. More safety solutions are relying on technology that is embedded in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and researchers believe this increased usage of IIoT will bring new opportunities for more integrated safety and compliance services.
IIoT is not new, but it is becoming more integrated with safety solutions in the industry as companies begin to see the value in acquiring data on the safety and health of their workers as well as the efficiency and compliance of their businesses. Using IIoT, companies can integrate their processes with safety in mind and monitor their progress in real-time, a benefit that wasn’t available just decades ago.
If researchers can find any challenges in the industry, they blame it on our restricted knowledge of potential failures when it comes to machinery operation. Complete machine guarding requires intensive risk management that considers so many different kinds of employees. Insufficient risk assessments can overlook important requirements for safeguarding workers, leading to worker injuries and compliance violations.
Finally, market analysis shows that major growth areas for the safety industry include the automotive, energy & power, oil & gas, and food and beverage industries. Each of these industries is expected to demand safety equipment and stringent safety regulations leading to larger purchases and higher budgets.
Seeing is Believing
In the product section on the next few pages, you’ll find listings for some of the latest safety solutions in the industry. These products and solutions signify not only the growth of the industry as a whole, but the time and effort from many, many companies focused on ensuring all employees have the chance to go home at the end of every one of their shifts. Enjoy looking through this section and seeing all that the industry has to offer.
To view the products, click here.
This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.


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The GMB union has started negotiations with agency Tempay about the rates of pay awarded to agency warehouse staff it supplies to DHL’s DC in Swindon run for Marks & Spencer. The move follows the legal claim launched in May by the union against Tempay, fellow agency Twenty Four Seven Recruitment Services, DHL and former site operator Wincanton about the rates paid to 240 agency staff at the warehouse in recent years. The union said the pay to agency staff […]
DHL Express has revealed that it intends to sell its same-day domestic business to technology distributor Rico Logistics later this month, as it continues to focus on the international express market.
DHL Express has transported more than 1,100 pieces of equipment and instruments for 15 US high schools and university marching bands to participate in the London New Year’s Day Parade. DHL collected tubas, snare drums, trumpets, saxophones, trombones and other musical instruments from each participating school, and loaded them onto special aircraft containers to be transported to the DHL Gateway at JFK Airport in New York. From there, the shrink-wrapped instruments were airlifted to East Midland’s Airport. DHL provided customs […]
DHL Supply Chain has acquired the remaining shares in drinks distributor Tradeteam from Molson Coors.


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Eric Mower + Associates and its client Domtar will lead a keynote session at the world’s largest business-to-business marketing event, highlighting their award-winning work for Domtar’s PAPERbecause campaign.
EMA Managing Partner Matt Ferguson and Domtar’s Director of Advertising & Communications Kathy Wholley will address more than 800 marketers on May 31 at BLAZE, the 2013 Global Business Marketing Association (BMA) Conference in Chicago. EMA and Domtar will again present in Chicago on June 4, when Ferguson and Paige Goff, Domtar’s Vice President of Sustainability and Business Communications, present the case study to 150 marketers at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Integrated Marketing Conference.
This marks the latest achievement for PAPERbecause, an integrated marketing campaign that’s helped change opinions about paper, boosted awareness of Domtar and increased the likelihood that people buy Domtar paper.
Since the start of 2012, Domtar’s marketing communications strategy has been written about by The New York Times, honored by readers of Newsweek, profiled in Communication Arts, viewed more than half a million times on YouTube, and widely promoted as a highlight of SXSW, one of the world’s largest interactive festivals. PAPERbecause has also earned numerous awards and recognition from marketing, paper, printing and graphic design organizations and publications.
“In today’s digital, environmentally conscious age, paper too often gets a bad rap,” Ferguson said. “As North America’s leading copier and printer paper maker, Domtar knew it had to do something to tell the story of paper – that it’s sustainable, essential and powerful.”


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“Ever want to know the vibe of a conversation before you join in? We’re testing prompts on Android and iOS that give you a heads up if the convo you’re about to enter could get heated or intense,” read a tweet by Twitter announcing that the company was exploring labels to let users know when they are entering a toxic conversation. The platform claims the move will foster “healthy conversation” but it is unclear what kind of parameters will determine the vibe of a conversation. [caption id="attachment_147306" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Image Credits: Twitter[/caption] The test labels appear under a tweet and display a little warning that “conversations like this can be intense.” To participate, it looks like you’ll need to click through the prompt encouraging users to be factual, open to diverse perspectives, and reminding them of their shared humanity, according to the image shared by the social media platform. Twitter, in response to a user’s query, said that “the criteria being used to determine which conversations will show this prompt may change” as they learn from this test and because it’s an early test, the company “may not get it right every time”. One criterion that the company revealed was that it will consider the topic of the tweet and the relationship between the tweet’s author and replier. https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1445845741440753666 Of late, Twitter has been busy trying to curb toxicity on its platform. It has several features empowering users to block trolls and mute uninvited participants. The latest move, however, might…
- MediaNama Daily: It’s not you, it’s your data January 28, 2023
- Why is Google not fully complying with India’s orders, MapmyIndia CEO asks January 27, 2023
- Unique Identification Authority of India working on age verification through e-KYC January 27, 2023
- Views: Why India’s “indigenous” smartphone operating system BharOS is overhyped January 27, 2023
- Here’s why Twitter employees’ access to its ‘God Mode’ function is a problem January 27, 2023
MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.
India's smartphone operating system BharOS has received much buzz in the media lately, but does it really merit this attention?
After using the Mapples app as his default navigation app for a week, Sarvesh draws a comparison between Google Maps and Mapples
The regulatory ambivalence around an instrument so essential to facilitate data exchange – the CM framework – is disconcerting for several reasons.
The provisions around grievance redressal in the Data Protection Bill "stands to be dangerously sparse and nugatory on various counts."
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And by "teases," we mean, "shows the whole car on video."
It's official: The next-generation Smart Electric Drive will debut at next week's Paris Motor Show. The company just released this teaser video showing the new car, its "ED" badge prominently displayed. And while we don't have any final details just yet (stay tuned), there's a lot we already know.
We took a ride in a Smart ED prototype earlier this year, and came to the conclusion that "it’s clear that there’s a real EV future for Smart." The unfinished test cars we rode in felt hilariously fun from the passenger seat – we expect the new ED to be kind of a hoot to drive. Smart officials are still mum on the specifics, but we hear the new car will offer "more power and a little more mileage” than the current-generation ForTwo Electric Drive, which produces 74 horsepower, 96 pound-feet of torque, and can go about 75 miles on a full charge.
Speaking of charging, that act should get a lot quicker with this second-generation car. Officials told us the new car should be able to fully charge in under three hours from a Level 2 charger. That's under half the charge time of the current car, which takes about six hours. What's more, a 22-kWh onboard charger is expected to be offered, which should half the already-quicker time.
The video clearly shows that Smart will offer its Electric Drive powertrain on the ForTwo Coupe, Cabriolet, and not-for-U.S. ForFour. That means the entire Smart range can be had with a gasoline or electric powertrain – pretty cool, considering most automakers only offer their EV variants in just one body style.
Look for the official information to be released very, very soon. In the meantime, watch the video above to see the trio of electric Smarts that we'll see firsthand in Paris next week.


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First publishedon www.ITSInternational.com
unveiled its Alvium cameras earlier this week at Vision 2018 in Stuttgart. These products are expected to combine the advantages of machine vision cameras with embedded sensor modules.
The company says the cameras allow users to switch from PC-based image processing applications to embedded systems.
Alvium cameras come with functions for image correction and optimisation, a selection of current sensors and intelligent energy management.
At the Stuttgart show, the company also hosted a presentation of various camera models and displayed a selection of embedded boards and available interfaces to the optimal software connection. The firm also delivered several demonstrations on different embedded boards to showcase Alvium’s capabilities.


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HMG Paints has unveiled new packaging for its water based range of products.
It says the new packaging utilises recycled content to manufacture the containers and the process and materials used also means the final container can be recycled.
The new range of 2.5 litre and five litre packaging will launch at the beginning of 2023.
“The use of PCR containers contributes to growing the circular economy,” said Helen Clark, HMG Paints purchasing manager.
“This helps reduce negative impact on climate change, whilst maintaining the same performance and standards you would expect from regular containers, something which was key for us and our customers.”


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PRN: New Socialbakers Study Reveals Top Performers in Social Customer Service
New Socialbakers Study Reveals Top Performers in Social Customer Service
- Findings Indicate Telecom, Airline, Financial Industries Among Most Responsive to Customers' Online Requests; Study Shows Huge Opportunity for "Socially Devoted" Companies to Drive ROI
LONDON, June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study of social media customer service practices highlights a major opportunity for companies to improve client satisfaction through better social media outreach, according to Socialbakers, the leading social media analytics provider. Defining a new standard of "Socially Devoted" companies, the Socialbakers study identifies businesses that succeed with open and responsive social communications. Socially Devoted companies can serve as role models, demonstrating how businesses worldwide can drive customer engagement by adopting more reactive and open social media strategies.
"By defining Socially Devoted companies, we wanted to start a discussion in the industry," said Socialbakers CEO Jan Rezab. "Socially Devoted companies communicate openly, actively respond to fans and make sure customers receive a quick answer to feedback or questions. Socially Devoted companies set a new global standard that other businesses can adopt to improve their social media marketing strategy."
Research Shows Incredible Opportunity to Expand Social Engagement
The Socialbakers research study revealed:
In the new study, the most Socially Devoted companies are those that respond to feedback quickly and have the highest number of wall posts on Facebook. Rezab observes that Facebook performance is only a starting point; Socialbakers encourages companies worldwide to embrace other social media elements, including live chat functions and platforms like Twitter, as a part of their social media marketing strategy.
Most Socially Devoted Brands Revealed
Here are the top 10 Socially Devoted companies from the new Socialbakers study:
The Socialbakers study provides interesting insights on specific industries that demonstrate high levels of social devotion. The telecommunications and mobile industry is by far the most Socially Devoted, with 13 of the top 20 Socially Devoted brands coming from that sector. Airline and financial services companies also perform well in the study.
The study indicates that a mobile operator in South America â�“ Personal Argentina â�“ is a stellar role model as a Socially Devoted company, answering thousands of queries via social media channels with an average response time of just four minutes.
Socialbakers provides limited information on company rankings to organizations researched free of charge. It's a valuable service since social media platforms are increasingly becoming the preferred method for communication. That means it's important for companies to find out where they stand. It's also increasingly clear that social media outreach is not just one option among many; it's a necessity.
Socialbakers developed the Socially Devoted standard as a benchmark companies can use to see where they rank in terms of social media performance as compared to competitors and to gauge their progress as they take steps to improve their Socially Devoted rank. Responsive social media communications can be a great tool to upsell products and services and build positive customer relationships. But it's also important to note that a lack of responsiveness can harm customer relationships, which makes a high Socially Devoted commitment even more crucial as consumers gravitate toward social media platforms as their primary communication mode.
Companies wishing to find out more about the Socially Devoted rankings can visit http://www.socially-devoted.com. Socialbakers offers a comprehensive social analytics platform that delivers actionable insights marketers and customer service professionals can use to measure success and drive ROI across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. Find out more at www.socialbakers.com. Â


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With Infiniti sales up a resounding 23.2 percent in 2002, increased profitability is now the big issue for dealers, says John Capps, the new chairman of the Infiniti Dealer Advisory Board.
If Infiniti can keep providing hot new product - and it looks like it can, with the just-arrived FX45 and a full-sized sport-utility due late this year - dealers will "see their volume increase and their profit per car increase, and as they do that, they will see their fixed operations improve also," the St. Louis dealer said.
Capps, who was one of Infiniti's launch dealers in 1989, definitely knows the luxury market. His Infiniti store, Plaza Infiniti of St. Louis, is one of eight luxury-vehicle dealerships (Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche, Audi, Land Rover and Infiniti) on one campus under the banner of Plaza Motor Co. In 1997, Capps' title changed from owner to president and CEO when he sold a majority interest in his operation to what is now Asbury Automotive Group of Stamford, Conn., the fifth largest dealership group in the country based on 2001 new-vehicle retail sales.
Even though Capps' father was the distributor for Volkswagen in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska, a career in the auto industry
wasn't a foregone conclusion for John Capps.
"I graduated from college and took a summer job selling cars while I was waiting to attend law school," he said. "I made so much money selling cars at the age of 22 that I somehow neglected to make it to register for law school."
Capps talked with Special Correspondent Karen Passino about the success Infiniti retailers' have seen and the challenges they face.