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Excerpts from the statement by The Bank of Korea:
The Board judges that the solid trend of domestic economic growth has continued, as exports and facilities investment have sustained their high rates of increase and private consumption has also picked up moderately. Employment conditions appear to be sustaining their trend of moderate improvement, although the pace of increase in the number of persons employed has slowed somewhat owing to temporary factors. Going forward it is forecast that the domestic economy will maintain its solid trend of growth. The GDP growth rate for this year is expected to be higher than the July projection (2.8 percent), and that for next year also to show its potential level. Exports seem likely to sustain their buoyancy, thanks largely to the global economic recovery, and domestic demand activities will also recover moderately due to the expansion in fiscal spending for instance.
Consumer price inflation has continued at the 2 percent level, in line mainly with increases in the prices of agricultural, livestock and fisheries products. Core inflation (with food and energy product prices excluded from the CPI) has stayed in the mid-1% range, and the rate of inflation expected by the general public at the mid-2 percent level. Looking ahead the Board expects that consumer price inflation will be in the upper-1 percent range for some time, in line chiefly with the disappearance of the base effect from the reduction of electricity fees last year, and then gradually approach the target level. Core inflation will meanwhile remain in the mid-1 percent range for the time being, before gradually rising from next year.
In the domestic financial markets price variable volatility has expanded. Long-term market interest rates have risen and the Korean won-US dollar exchange rate fluctuated, due mainly to changes in expectations concerning monetary policies at home and abroad and to geopolitical risks. Stock prices have risen, on expectations of improvements in corporate performances for example. Household lending has sustained its higher rate of increase than in past years, but the amount of increase has lessened somewhat. Although housing sales prices have shown signs of rebounding slightly in some parts of Seoul and its surrounding areas, their uptrend has in general slowed since the government's announcement of housing market stabilization measures.
Looking ahead, the Board will conduct monetary policy so as to ensure that the recovery of economic growth continues and consumer price inflation can be stabilized at the target level over a medium-term horizon, while paying attention to financial stability. As the inflationary pressures on the demand side are forecast to not be high for the time being, while the domestic economy is expected to continue its solid growth, the Board will maintain its accommodative policy stance while closely checking future economic growth and inflation trends. In this process it will also carefully monitor any changes in the monetary policies of major countries, conditions related to trade with major countries, the trend of increase in household debt, and geopolitical risks.


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On Sunday night, at a well-attended ceremony at an old warehouse in a run-down section of Detroit, GM Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter and design director Tom Peters pulled the wraps off a 2014 Chevy Corvette Stingray. The seventh generation of the classic American sports car and the first new version since 2005 is the most powerful standard Corvette in history, the C7 boasts an estimated 450 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque.
“For 60 years, the Corvette has represented the state of the art in performance cars. To put it simply, this car is the reason I work at General Motors,” said Mark Reuss, North American president, as he stood on stage next to a fire-alarm red model, the tarp just pulled off. “It’s presence, the performance, the history and the heritage — everything it stands for — always raises the hair on the back of my neck.”
Roger Scoble blogs about the latest gadgets, travel and luxury news. A graduate of UCLA, Roger loves to travel, drive luxe autos and have amazing adventures.

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The attention being paid to electric transportation is accelerating, almost as fast as some of the cars in question.
We have visited in this column the amazing brawn of the Formula E race car. Like traditional gas-fueled race cars over the last century, advances on the circuit will find their way to the highway.
We have begun to cover the fascinatingly eclectic diversity of the eBike sector. Developments are bringing more people to two-wheeled transportation.
Today we focus on the world’s first 2+2 electric car.
The Tomahawk will debut at CES 2018, a mere eleven months away. I spoke with co-founders Mike Kakogiannakis and Mario Dubuc. Based in Quebec, these chipper Canadians have a great story to tell.
Mike: “We began the company 17 years ago, our wives owned a restaurant. We two husbands met and discovered we were both big fans of cars.”
Mario: “I bought a car when I was 14 and took it apart to see how it worked, and I started designing cars at 16. My Dad was in the business of engineering and automation. Although I lacked engineering experience, I loved cars. It started as a hobby, which expanded into building prototypes, but it extended beyond fun into a business. I started discovering the possibility of electric cars. In 2013, Mario and I left our jobs to devote ourselves full time to our shared passion.”
The duo’s car company, of course, started in a garage and was self-funded, like all good start-ups. Mario had been successful in printing and real estate investing, so only now is the company seeking investors.
In fact, the big news announced today by Dubuc Motors Electric Car Company is that it is the first auto company ever to receive SEC approval to raise equity under the JOBS act.
Under Title IV of the JOBS Act, Regulation A+, Dubuc Motors can begin to convert reservations into equity shares. The company is also the first to jointly file a Reg. S, allowing for investors to contribute as little as $200 in the United States as well as internationally. The company has more than $6 million in reservations to date. This cross-border accomplishment is remarkable.
Evoking a pithy Canadian reference, Mario continues: “A decade ago pre-Tesla we sounded like looneys, there was no awareness of electric cars. Performance parts were either unavailable or very expensive.”
The vision shared by the duo did not stop them overcoming significant hurdles.
Mike: “We have added engineers in Quebec, we are now at about 12 and headed to 100 employees.” Despite Mario’s paternal automation influence, the Tomahawk will be an all human build.
When I asked about the Dubuc target market, they rapidly described it as “25 to 65, more millennials, the successful entrepreneur, a driver who appreciates lotsa swag and a showstopper.” They also have a focus on the niche market of big and tall drivers. Mike asserts that “we can differentiate ourselves by appealing to the 6’- 6’3” drivers out there.”
The Tomahawk sports an impressive range of specs, including these eyebrow-raising bullet points:
- 370 mile range
- 0-60 MPH in 3 seconds
- 160 MPH maximum speed
- Zero emissions
- 2+2 seating, with cargo space for two golf bags
Mike: “We have no real competitors, we don’t compare ourselves to Tesla. Elon Musk has different models and targets.”
I asked if Dubuc leveraged any of Tesla’s patent portfolio. Musk famously opened the Tesla patent portfolio to all takers, a canny move to accelerate the electric car market. This strategy is anathema to the traditional royalty licensing approach of classic tech companies for which I used to work, such as Philips, Qualcomm, Hewlett Packard.
Mario: “We did not need to leverage any of Musk’s Tesla patent portfolio, we had much similar technology already developed.”
Mike went on to tick off the Tomahawk’s additional selling points: “The battery is a key design attribute, it is 100 kilowatts. A separate battery drives the air conditioning and sound system, therefore mileage is not decreased.” The car will also feature a bold cab forward design, hands-free voice commands, a built-in wifi hotspot, scissor doors and a live 360° camera.
Dubuc provides a very intriguing Venn Diagram about how they see the competitive marketplace.
Dubuc starts accepting investments today. It aims to build up to 100 cars in its first year. The current sticker price is $125,000.


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Who is behind the recent study of organic food and why?
The New Agrarians are the next generation of organic farmers, and they need our help.
The latest organic foods study focuses on nutrition—but that’s just a small part of the story.
Writing in 1948, J.I. Rodale discusses the growing organic movement and its practices, setting it at odds with the status quo of the day.
There’s a cheaper, more convenient way to get local food than heading to your farmers’ market every week.
When we said organic, we meant local, healthful, and just.
The time is now to jump off the industrial treadmill.
Sage advice from our founder, J.I. Rodale.
Vote with your food dollars for small, family farms.
Eat locally—and raise your voice.
Can organic farming feed the world? A noted scientist argues that it can—and must.
For 55 years the Rodale Institute has led the way for organic farmers and gardeners.
The author of The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Dilemma talks about gardening, nature, and (gasp!) why organic isn't what it's cracked up to be.


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German carmakers slam India's customs duty hike
14 February 2018
German automobile makers are aggrieved at India's decision to raise customs duty on automobile parts at a time when the European Union is seeking to conclude a free-trade agreement with this country.
Germany's ambassador to India Martin Ney has warned that India's Budget proposal to raise duties on automobile parts could backfire at a time when this country is banking on exports to boost economic growth.
Instead of taking protective measures, Ney said, India should negotiate a free-trade agreement with the European Union, adding that New Delhi is also in a very strong position, ''as India already has a trade surplus of nearly $5 billion with the EU''.
German companies have invested $9.7 billion in India since 2000, creating four lakh jobs directly and indirectly and ''bringing 'Make in India' to life'', Ney said, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of an auto-components exhibition in New Delhi. ''I don't understand the hike in customs duty on auto components. If India wants its GDP to grow at 8 per cent and wants to increase exports, then it needs to allow easy import too,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Klaus Braunig, managing director, VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie), which has over 600 members representing manufacturers of cars, trailers, bodies, and buses as well as parts and accessories, said India will overtake Germany in passenger vehicle sales this year if the current trend continued.
India is on a growth path, and with growing GDP and industrial production combined with falling inflation rate, and with just over 1.3 billion people there is a considerable potential for a big jump in automobile sales in India, Braunig said.
He was addressing the media at the Auto Expo 2018. VDA has set up a German pavilion at the Auto Expo, for the seventh time, with the slogan 'Made in Germany'.
''In 2018, the Indian passenger car market will overtake the German market in terms of volume for the first time. Between 2014 and 2017, this market grew by a good quarter (over 26 per cent) to 3.2 million new cars. In our forecast, we assume that in the current year the Indian passenger car market will expand by 10 per cent – to a volume of almost 3.6 million units. This means that for the first time the India passenger car market will overtake the German car market in terms of volume. And the potential has not yet been exhausted – not by a long way,'' he said.
''The number of passenger cars here is still low by international comparison. Currently, India has 24 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants, while Germany has 560 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants'', he said.
The pavilion was supported through the official foreign trade show programme by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry. It is being realised by the trade show organizer IMAG.
''The population is young – more than half of all Indian citizens (54 per cent) are under 30, and only 6 per cent are over the age of 64. The per capita gross domestic product has also shown a positive trend during recent years, with annual increases of between 6 and 7 per cent.''
He, however, said too little attention is given to the fact that the Indian automotive industry has a surplus in passenger car trade with Germany. In the first 11 months of 2017, German companies sold cars worth €30 million to India while India supplied passenger cars worth €240 million to Germany, clearly demonstrating India's high level of competitiveness, he added.
''I am therefore keen to see the negotiations on a free-trade agreement between EU and India resumed soon. To date they have not come to fruition and are more or less on hold. From the outset, the VDA has worked for the complete removal of import duties in the automotive sector, even if this is associated with longer transition periods,'' Braunig said.
While India has not ruled out a free-trade agreement with EU, the restrictive trade practices followed by some European countries stand in the way of India opening its market to the EU.
Passenger car sales is just one component of bilateral trade. There are other more important items of export where Germany has a high trade surplus.


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As a small business owner, keeping up with cybersecurity may seem intimidating — or even unnecessary. But the idea is wrong and small business needs secure email services. Are threat actors really targeting small businesses when there are much larger fish in the sea? And is it even possible to stay on top of cybersecurity without an enterprise-level budget?
Well, there’s good news and bad news there. The bad news is that threat actors definitely target small businesses, categorized as businesses with 1,000 or fewer employees, for a variety of cybercrime: nearly a third of all data breaches from Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report involved small businesses, and 71% of small businesses experienced an increase in phishing in 2020 according to the SOES 2021 report.
Attacks can also have a more devastating impact on small businesses — with the cost of one incident averaging $7.68 million according to IBM and the Ponemon Institute’s 2020 The Cost of Insider Threats Global Report. Large and mid-size businesses may be able to swallow the recovery from an attack more easily than small businesses.
The Good News: Small Businesses Can Have Great Email Security
Most cyberattacks do not use the most high-tech tools to attempt to breach small businesses. Instead, according to the Verizon 2020 DBIR report, the most common threat to small businesses is social engineering via phishing scams. Following that are stolen password credentials and malware, which are most commonly spread via email.
Mitigating the danger of these common threats is something even small businesses can do. Rather than trying to build a patchwork cybersecurity solution from the ground up, there are turn-key secure email services that can provide a variety of cybersecurity solutions bundled together, including employee training and awareness as well as technological solutions.
Which Secure Email Services Are Worth It?
When looking for a secure email services provider, there are a number of features you should be looking for, assuming that anyone feature on its own is potentially exploitable. The most secure business emails will have multiple failsafes against common types of attacks — tools to prevent impersonation, phishing, malware, and more.
Some tools that you should look for when choosing an email cybersecurity solution include:
- Employee security training to improve awareness
- Automatic blocking of spoofed emails (emails that are faked to look like they come from a coworker or the CEO)
- Email links that open into an isolated cloud browser to prevent automatic malware downloads
- URLs inspected not only during initial delivery but on every click to help catch websites that change to a threat later
- Inspection and sandboxing of attachments
As email continues to be the primary language of business for the foreseeable future, and a major vector for threat actors, secure email service is an investment that all small business owners should consider to avoid the potentially devastating cost of an attack.
Shana Aguilar is a Content Strategist at iQuanti who works to communicate the latest business and consumer tech solutions and news. She helps to translate developments across cybersecurity, SEO, finance, and more into content for general audiences.


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AAPL Q3 Estimates
I agree. Channel inventory will not be drawn down until and unless a new iPhone release is imminent. With 8 million in channel inventory, it doesn’t make sense to draw it down just yet if we have almost another quarter’s worth of sales of the current iPhones. Since it is highly likely that the iPhone 4G/5 will be released in September or October, that draw down will occur next quarter.
Regarding the next iPhone release, we might see another “miss” in the September quarter like last year if the next iPhone doesn’t begin selling before October. It could be quite dramatic. However, this will set up for Q1 ‘13 like last year to be the mother of all blowouts ($20+ EPS).
As for this quarter EPS, I see the bare minimum floor being $12.30. iPad sales will be incredibly strong and iPhone sales will not drop below 28 million. Factor in a week or two of what will probably be 4 new macs in sales, and we are likely to see $13+ in EPS.
I think iPhone channel inventory was increased specifically so that Apple could begin production transition THIS quarter. We didn’t get a June announcement as I had thought, so I’m feeling that July will be the month.
You can’t do more, make more, be more, than the next guy, if you think like the next guy. Think different.
September, more likely October. Tune in Monday for clues on the iOS 6 release date. That’s the best clue we’ll likely get for a while.
The Summer of AAPL is here. Enjoy it (responsibly) while it lasts.
AFB Night Owl Team™
September 21 is my guess for the release data of the new iPhone


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It's Small Business Week in Colorado.
Half of the workforce in Colorado is made up of small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. That's more than 560,000 small businesses.
And if you want to open one yourself, you may be wondering, ‘Where do I start?’
Mike O'Donnell, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado Lending Source, sat down with 9NEWS to talk about that. Colorado Lending Source works with local small businesses to get them loans.
First, it takes more than just a good idea.
“A small business really needs to plan for itself,” he said. “Behind the idea needs to be a plan. You really need to think through the process. You can’t just jump and then hope that the customers will come.”
Also, test your idea and do research into it. O'Donnell gave the example that if you want to sell T-shirts on a street corner, you need to know how many cars go by and what T-shirts people might want.
Then there’s money. You may get cash from friends, family and others who believe in your idea. You may consider bank financing or a lender like Colorado Lending Source, O'Donnell said.


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Wearable technology gave consumers Nike’s popular HyperAdapt shoes, and Under Armour brought to the market shoes that can track a runner’s data through GPS. Meanwhile, the entire industry has gone gaga over the smart watch by Apple, and activity trackers like Fitbit. But today, smart wearables are no more limited to a small touch point at the wrist, as smart clothing is now different with longer ranges and more accuracy.
Smart clothing, also known as e-textiles, is more commonly identified as wearables which are integrated with sensors and digital components in them. Initially introduced as fitness trackers and smart watches, the market of wearable technology has now grown into clothing, which can monitor the wearer’s physical condition in a given environment. Combined with machine learning and big data analysis, the technology can further provide consumers more data about their lifestyles and their body.
Proving to be an extremely beneficial application for sports and leisure, healthcare and military industry, even though the wearable market is recorded to be a US $ 28 billion per year industry, smart clothing still represents a fraction of that market. According to a research report by Research Nester, a strategic market research and consulting service, “Global smart clothing market is anticipated to witness robust growth, expected to garner US $ 5.2 billion by the end of 2024.”
One of the most well-received examples of the same this year was the ‘self-heating jacket’ by Ralph Lauren, sported by team USA during the Winter Olympics 2018 held through the chilly winters of South Korea. Made of flexible carbon and silver ink printed directly onto the fabric, according to Ralph Lauren, “the ink is conductive, and connects to a battery pack that can be set to high, low, or off. At a full charge, it provides five hours of heat on the high setting, and 11 hours on the low.”
Another product that rather fetched mixed reviews after its launch in 2017 was the much-awaited smart jacket called Commuter X, launched in collaboration between Alphabet’s Google and Levi Strauss. Conceived as a denim jacket that lets the user control a phone through the use of gestures alone – the jacket connected through Google’s conductive Jacquard Thread, which is woven into the sleeve, and the Jacquard snap tag, which syncs to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The jacket was sold at a price of US $ 350 and was designed for a bike commuter who could use gestures to control the phone while biking, instead of pulling it out of the pocket every time.
Moving beyond aesthetics in design, these smart clothes are also made of fabrics and fibres which can regulate body temperature, and can even release medications into the skin. American brand, Under Armour sells ‘athletic recovery sleepwear’ which are pajamas that beam infrared radiation onto the wearer’s body to boost recovery.
In early 2018, DuPont Advanced Materials (DuPont) launched DuPont™ Intexar™ – a powered smart clothing technology for on-body heating. The company describes Intexar™ Heat as a thin lightweight and durable heating solution for outdoor clothing that is designed to be easily integrated into garments and when powered creates comfortable warmth. The technology can further enable biometric monitoring in smart clothing as well such as monitoring pulse rate, respiratory rate, muscle activity and forming awareness.
“Our team has worked hard to develop a heater that feels like fabric, doesn’t rely on cables, thick wires or big batteries, and can stand up to very cold environment. From outdoor enthusiasts to industrial workers, Intexar™ Heat can help conquer the elements in comfort, increasing focus and improving performance,”said Michael Burrows, Global Business Manager, DuPont Advanced Materials.
Companies like Clothing+ produce medical applications such as heart, brain and lungs monitoring solutions in e-textiles along with other popular products like smart blankets. Other fabric companies such as Camira fabric and Hexoskin provide smart fabrics to different hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living. Hexoskin fabrics are embedded with cardiac, movement and breathing sensors for tracking the patient’s data as per the health segment.
Pireta creates smart fabrics which are customised as per the selection of garments for continuous physiological monitoring and emergency care. Various other start-ups are getting into smart pediatric wear to monitor the ECG and heart rate of infants, and postures of expecting mothers.
Other innovators in the industry are companies like Edema ApS, which has developed a washable stocking that monitors and measures changes in leg volume for patients suffering from edema (fluid accumulation or swelling) of the lower limbs. According to the company, the material of the stocking is especially designed as a compression stocking that instantly measures all changes of leg expansion. The measurements are then sent to a mobile phone that shows the actual changes of swelling in the legs. This information is then automatically sent to clinicians at the hospital for observation.
Paving way for a highly collaborative industry in which more and more technology providers will be partnering with apparel companies – even designers are now stepping into the market with wearable-tech innovations. Designer Julianna Bass recently collaborated with New York-based company Loomia, to develop a colour-changing textile used in two of her dresses in Spring/Summer ’18 collection showcased during the New York fashion week. Loomia is known to make flexible circuitry that can emit heat and/or light, as well as sense and track data. But more than that, the company has also created e-textiles that are machine washable.
With so much happening in the wearable technology, it will not be long before mainstream retailers also start offering garments with more than just performance finishes. What was in fact a mere concept only a few years ago, is now already on the ramps and in stores.


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However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.
Samsung/Apple UK judgment, Apple.com
Apple can’t resist ridiculing the High Court’s decision at the end of the statement imposed by its judgment; they are entirely right to do so.


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A chance combination of prosperity, ticking biological
clocks and the search for family values and intimacy is keeping Brazilian
maternities, baby sitters and child product manufacturers very busy these
days. With inflation unbelievably low (by Brazilian standards), many couples
are finally considering the big jump to baby land. Simply put, it’s boom
time for babies. But there many other people crying and is not from teething.
They are being called the children of Real. They are the boys and girls
born in the last few years who are reaping the fruits of the Real, the
new currency and economic plan implemented July 1994. More specifically,
children of Real are those babies who arguably owe their existence to the
Real Plan, since their parents decided to have them only because of the
new perspectives and opportunities presented by the Real. And it seems
that there are plenty of these children of Real. So much so that there
is talk of a new baby boom in the country
Newborn Antônio Franco is a legitimate representative of this
generation. He is the son of Cristiana and Gustavo Franco, one of the Real’s
fathers and the Central Bank’s Director for International Affairs. If not
diplomatically, the old Franco has colorfully and irreverently explained
the relationship between the economy and the current baby boom: “I
have no doubt that inflation was one of the causes of impotency in Brazilian
homes. It’s good to know that the Real has induced a national hard-on.”
He makes a strong case. For decades, Brazilians, living with a monthly
inflation rate of around 50 percent, couldn’t seriously budget for a year
in advance much less for nearly two decades that it takes to raise a child.
There is no lack of signs that it’s boom time for middle-class newborns.
The evidence can be seen in the maternity wards for the well-to-do in Rio,
São Paulo and Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais) where there
was an average 20 percent increase in births since July 1994. Hospital
São Luiz in São Paulo is spending $1.2 million on new facilities
to meet the demand. The signs are evident throughout the industry that
caters to babies. Earnings in the sector have increased a whopping 70 percent
in the last 2.5 years generating $1 billion per year.
There is an explosion of shops selling to the newborn set. Opened in
São Paulo at the end of 1995, a 51-store mall specializing in products
for children, Kids — a $10-million investment — is already recording
$1 million a month in sales. Just one year ago, its creators were dreaming
of making $2.5 million a year. The Market Place, another shopping mall
with children in mind, has innovatively provided shopping carts for children
in the supermarket so the tots can do their own shopping.
According to SBEP, a company that specializes in organizing fairs for
the baby industry, the number of shops selling baby stuff has skyrocketed
from 7,000 in mid 1994 to 20,000 today. The XI Expo Bebê e Gestante,
a fair with products for babies and pregnant women that took place last
October in São Paulo, featured more than 200 stands representing
companies from all over the world.
Times are so promising that Yankee companies Gracco and Century , two
of the world’s biggest names in baby car seats and strollers, have already
made known their plans to invest in Brazil in 1997. They will be joining
multinationals such as Johnson & Johnson — which has announced $70
million in fresh investment to develop new children’s products — Kimberly
Clark/Kenko, and American Procter & Gamble, which is also committing
$70 million to produce more diapers. They are working under the assumption
— for lack of an official number — that the Real has generated eight
million children so far.
In an interview with weekly magazine Isto É, Ruy Marco
Antônio, the director superintendent of Hospital e Maternidade São
Paulo, argued: “The middle class worries too much about consumption.
They always want to know how much they are going to spend to raise a child.
Inflation scared them. Now they can budget their expenses”
Another service in high demand is in vitro fertilization. Do to its
high expense — typically from $3,000 to 7,000 — artificial insemination
is restricted to the upper middle class and wealthy. Celeste and Joshua,
the newborn twins of Assíria Seixas Lemos and Édson Arantes
do Nascimento (Pelé), are merely the most famous of a crop of babies
born through this method. Pelé, the legendary soccer player who
is now Brazil’s Sports Minister, opted for this method after a failed operation
to reverse a vasectomy 17 years ago. The clinics that specialize in this
kind of treatment have seen a measurable growth since the introduction
of Real. Close to 2,000 couples tried to artificially conceive a child
in Brazil in 1995. In São Paulo, for example, the Clínica
Roger Abdelmassih expects to end the year with 700 in vitro fertilization
trials up from 450 just two years ago.
All of this happens in a country where the fecundity rate has been falling
consistently since 1960, when there was an average of 6.28 children for
every child-bearing-aged woman.. According to IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro
de Geografia e Estatística — Brazilian Institute for Geography
and Statistics), in 1970 this number had fallen to 5.76, in 1980 to 4.35,
and all the way to 2.8 in 1994, the last year for which the IBGE has data.
Due to this trend, population growth has fallen from a yearly average of
2.48 percent between 1971 and 1980 to 1.93 percent during the period of
1980 to 1991.
The middle-class baby boom is also occurring against the backdrop of
a series of tragedies involving newborn babies in October and November.
In a 50-day span, at least 92 babies died in public maternity wards throughout
the country, all due to overcrowding and lack of proper care and hygiene
in the hospitals. Forty nine babies died at Maternidade Escola Assis Chateaubriand
in Fortaleza (state of Ceará) in the first two weeks of November.
There were 32 other cases in Boa Vista (capital of Roraima) and 11 in Niterói
(Rio de Janeiro).
One third of the 150 million-strong Brazilian population is 14 years
old or younger. Some 15 million of these children belong to the middle
class. They represent a market of $50 billion or 10 percent of the Brazilian
GNP. And this is before any consideration of their leverage in buying almost
everything else in the house, including cars (minivans have been invading
the Brazilian market as in the US), computers (adults are generally too
dumb to know which machine to buy and 26 percent of all home computers
are bought due to the insistence of a child), and even houses. According
to industry sources, Brazilian children spend $1 billion a year on cookies
and $4.8 billion on soft drinks.
“Everything a child wants, he gets,” said ad agency McCann
Erickson’s director Helena Quadrado in an interview with weekly newsmagazine
Veja. “No one refuses anything to their children.” In
a recent study, McCann Erickson found that 63 percent of São Paulo
city’s middle-class 13-years-old or younger have a TV set in their own
bedroom. The research has also revealed that allowances, as a fixed amount
of money given to the child every month, are on their way out (less than
half of the children receive them) while an open budget and more freedom
to spend the money have become the norm among these children.
This new independent breed of children, who had to learn to fend for
themselves while both parents often had to work to make ends meet, doesn’t
seem particularly greedy or undisciplined. Books for children have both
mirrored this new reality and helped empower children to question authority,
doing away with the absolute power and infallibility of the adult. Among
the current book heroes there are Ruth Rocha’s Marcelo Marmelo, Martelo,
the saga of a little boy who has his own ideas and even decides to create
a new language, and Ziraldo’s O Menino Maluquinho, the crazy little
boy who used to get an F in behavior, but was very happy anyway.
At the same time, a reevaluation of the role of parents and in particular
that of mothers, is occurring. As in the US, many Brazilian women who had
prosperous careers are redirecting their energies and often reassuming
their posts as homemakers, but no longer as the celebrated queens of the
household of past generations. The personal-success-at-any-cost attitude
has given way to a desire to achieve personal and affective realization.
And many women in their 30s are listening to their biological clocks ticking
and have decided that it’s the time to start or expand the family.
While maternity leave in Brazil lasts four months, not the one month
or less that’s the norm in the US, many women think this is not enough
time to bond with their newborn. Some celebrities have adhered to the back-to-home
concept in recent months giving the idea their seal of approval. Among
them is actress Patrícia Travassos, 44, who has given up a successful
career on TV and the stage to dedicate herself to her home and her 7 year
old son Nicolau.
While enjoying herself at her apartment in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro,
she told Isto É about the different standards applied to
men and women: “If a man is late to work because he went to take his
son to the dentist, he is considered a good father. When this happens to
a woman, we are not considered good professionals because we are bringing
our domestic problems to work.”
For some 9.6 million women who are single parents, the task of juggling
outside and home work can be formidable. According to IBGE, one in every
four families in Brazil are managed by a woman, often without any financial
or other help from the former husband. It’s estimated that by the year
2000, 40 percent of all jobs will be held by women in Brazil. This doesn’t
mean, however, that women will get new respectability in the work place.
Right now, the average salary for a woman is 24 percent lower than that
for a man.
The same Real that has saved Brazilians from the mandibles of apparently
chronic inflation has also caused some conflicting feelings, ranging from
an initial shopping euphoria to a lingering despair for those who lost
their jobs after the government put on the brakes. In the first drive,
the taming of inflation made people feel very powerful and brought them
in droves to the stores in a festival of consumerism. Government intervened
through a double dose of high-interest rates and short period payments
for sales on credit.
As a result of these measures, there was a retraction in the economy
and unemployment became rampant. Jobless figures reached a peak of 16.2
percent in the Greater São Paulo area in June and have been falling
since, but rate is still in double digits. An optimist by profession, Finance
Minister Pedro Malan declared recently: “No one can deny that the
country has become a better place. Economic stabilization is a marathon
with barriers. We have already passed several of them and certainly we
will have new one to overcome. But we have the lowest inflation since 1957
and perfectly sustainable growth rates.”
Experts are predicting a 4 percent growth rate in the Gross Domestic
Product for 1996. There are fears that an expansion larger than this might
bring inflation back. The rate, however, seems good enough to keep the
economy humming along, with enough production and sales not to add to the
hordes of unemployed. Economists are just hopeful they will not have to
endure other crises such as the one that followed the Mexican debacle of
1995, when Brazil lost $10 billion from its reserves, money already recouped
by now. Another serious setback was caused by the insolvency of Econômico
and Nacional, both among the five largest Brazilian banks. A much-feared
chain reaction that would hit other financial institutions hasn’t materialized
and the economy seems to be recuperating fast from the shock.
There are, however, some business practices that are causing the economic
policy makers to worry. One of them is the credit that supermarkets are
extending their clients for buying food staples. José Roberto Mendonça
de Barros, the Finance Ministry’s secretary of Economic Policy, has expressed
his discontent in face of the seemingly dangerous trend. “The length
of credit has increased too fast and these sales are not backed up by durable
goods,” says Mendonça de Barros. “We need to call these
folks for a little chat.”
Last year in São Paulo, two million people were on the black
list of bad debtors, but this number has since been cut in half. The economy
is growing again, and while some sectors continue to hurt, other industries,
including those that manufacture electronics and home appliances are booming.
From January to September, Brazilians bought 6.4 million TV sets, 4 million
irons, 2.8 million refrigerators and 2 million video players. While 76
percent of the houses had a TV set in 1993 this number had increased to
81 percent by the end of 1995. The number of households with refrigerators
grew from 72 percent to 75 percent, while 27 percent of Brazilians now
have a washing machine (compared to 24 percent two years ago) and 15 percent
have a freezer (compared to 12 percent before the Real).
Since the introduction of the Real, income has increased an average
of 30 percent. The poor got the bigger benefits. Those workers who were
making around $60 had their income doubled. Capital goods and auto parts
— national manufacturers are feeling the squeeze from foreign companies
— are two of the sectors that are still limping. Despite generalized complaints
from the auto industry, that sector increased its production by 10 percent
in 1996 when compared to 1995 and automakers are committed to investing
$9 billion in three years to expand their factories.
Brazilians are also eating better since the advent of the Real. Consumption
of products like beef, chicken and canned food has increased almost 5 percent
in comparison to 1995. Thanks to the new currency, 11 million people were
upgraded from poor to lower middle class, producing an increase in sales
of non-essential products such as soft drinks, linens, and beach paraphernalia.
A study from IPEA (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada — Institute
for Applied Economic Research) has shown that since the end of 1994, the
number of people under of the poverty line fell from 16 million to 11 million.
As for inflation the reality has been rosier than the predictions. For
1997, it’s expected that inflation will not surpass 8 percent for the year.
In response to the market, the federal government is again and very cautiously
relaxing credit through the lowering of interest rates and the lengthening
of time for financing. A car, for example, can be bought over 48 months,
much more feasible than the less than one year plans of the recent past.
As extra protection, Brazil has $58.7 billion in reserve for eventual foreign
debts. Only Japan, Germany and the US have bigger reserves.
Different from the IBGE, which uses the salaries of all the family members
to rank the prosperity of the people, , the research company Marplan groups
Brazilians into five different categories (A to E), according to a basket
of services and goods that people receive. The classification, widely used
for marketeers, shows that Brazilians from the lowest classes (D and E)
measured only 33 percent in 1995. A similar study in 1986 showed that 42
percent of the population belonged to those classes. Ten years ago the
C group was 32 percent and it has increased to 38 percent. The most privileged,
the A and B layers have also grown from 25 percent to 29 percent during
the same period.
Changes in consumer habits have forced DIEESE (Departamento Intersindical
de Estatística e Estudos Sociais – Inter-Union Department of Statistics
and Socio-Economic Studies), a research institute maintained by workers’
unions, to eliminate some items and include others on the list it uses
to compute the cost of living index. Products like vinyl records and black
and white TV sets have disappeared from their inquiries while new products
like disposable diapers and yogurt have been added or were given more weight.
Despite all the improvements and better distribution of wealth, Brazil
continues to be a land of huge contrasts between the extremes of poverty
and wealth. While the poorest 70 percent take 26 percent of the country’s
income the richest 10 percent take 47 percent of all the wealth. Services
continue to be a problem, too. Forty percent of the houses are not served
by public sewers, 24 percent have no tap water, 28 percent don’t get their
trash picked up and 8 percent still don’t have electricity at home. All
this without even mentioning telephones. Before the Real, only 19 percent
of residences had a phone. Today a mere 22 percent have one.
Unemployment figures have been scary. According to DIEESE (Departamento
Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Sociais — Inter-Union Department
of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies) there were 1.32 million unemployed
in São Paulo in August. That’s 15 percent of that city’s workforce.
Such dire numbers are the worse in memory except for August 1992, when
the recession provoked by the Plano Collor (the economic plan named for
impeached President Fernando Collor de Mello) was at its peak.
Even though this perception of the worst of times might also be due
do the fact that measurement is a little more precise nowadays, the situation
would be much worse if Brazilians weren’t so malleable and inventive. They
have been doing all kinds of jobs and tricks to survive. A large contingent
of them has entered the so-called informal market. From the 70-million
strong Brazilian work force at least 35 million get their main source of
income or part of it through work on the side.
Such a huge informal economy can only be matched by countries of the
so-called Fifth World, like Somalia and Bangladesh. These clandestine business
people, who have no health insurance and end up using the overcrowded public
health system, are responsible for a $220 billion economy, or close to
35 percent of Brazil’s official GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
In the first official effort ever to find out how widespread the under-the-table
economy is, IBGE studied it in Rio de Janeiro and found that there are
444,420 informal outfits functioning without permits in that city. Guaranteeing
work for 560,000 people, these outlaw activities generate $6 billion a
year, an amount that not even Shell of Brazil can match. This amount represents
18 percent of Rio’s GDP. Surprisingly the average monthly income of an
informal business is $1,100, 11 times the minimum wage. That means that
a street peddler in Rio brings home five times more money than a teacher
from a public school, and four times more than a bank cashier.
Quite curiously, such informality in some cases has been a blessing
in disguise. Many people who go underground after they are fired find out
that they wouldn’t take their old job back if it was offered to them. There
are stories of people graduated from college who are doing much better
selling in the streets without a permit than they were before in their
underpaid white-collar jobs.
Isto É recently told the story of Frederico Ladeira, 36,
a high-school teacher who instead of taking home a $400 monthly salary,
is now making 2,000 selling chocolate candy that he manufactures at home
and sells without any permit or receipts. All under the table. “Professional
fulfillment doesn’t fill the stomach,” he told the magazine. “I
wanted to do something to make money.”
For 22 years now, the number of jobs in Brazil has been shrinking —
as in the rest of the industrialized world for that matter. While the population
was increasing at a rate of around 2 percent a year and the industry grew
2.9 percent between 1974 and 1983, the number of jobs expanded a miserly
0.15 percent. Since 1983, industry growth fell to 1.9 percent and the job
market started showing a negative result: an average of minus 1.35 percent
The Brazilian bureaucracy is in part responsible for the size of the
informal economy, which consists not only of street vendors and people
hawking their goods at stop lights. Many people work for companies that
never register them, avoiding the costs of official hiring, which would
more than double the cost of an employee. There are close to 20 fees that
have to be paid by the employer, including fees for social security, unemployment
fund, and education-salary.
The outlaw workers are starting to organize themselves. Throughout the
country there are already 11 unions for workers in the informal market.
“We are paying close attention to the situation,” says Vicente
Paulo da Silva, Vicentinho, the president of CUT (Central Única
dos Trabalhadores — Workers’ United Central). “We recommend that
those people who are in the informality organize themselves.” CUT
is planning a national conference for the first semester of 1997 to deal
exclusively with the theme. São Paulo’s Informal Economy Workers’
Union has close to 3,000 members. At least 50 people everyday come to their
office to inquire about starting their own business while ditching all
the government bureaucracy and fees.
Brazilians not only make less than their neighbors to the north, they
have to pay much more for a similar baby product. The discrepancy occurs
in almost every other sector of the economy.
Price in US$
Baby bathtub ………..173 ……60
Stroller …………………256 ….100
Car seat ……………….191…… 80
High chair ……………..100 …..30
Rocking chair …………180 …..80
Play pen ………………..280….. 80
Feeding bottle ……………6 …….6


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← Back to: "Honda Announces 5% Motorcycles Sales Drop in 2012"
Honda Announces 5% Motorcycles Sales Drop in 2012
"Unlike other motorcycle manufacturers which have happily announced sales increases in 2012 over previous years, red giant Honda has to do with 5% less. Some of you might wonder how come Honda sold less bikes in 2012 than in 2011, especially as new nifty models have surfaced and gained almost instant popularity. The answer is the sales in Asia: the biggest market for Honda motorcycles is in Asia, with almost three quarters of the bikes bearing the winged red badge being sold there. And si..." Continue Reading →
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Western Avenue show spotlights Lowell High artists
The Loading Dock Gallery at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell kicks off the year with a new generation of artists in "Fresh Visions: Lowell High School Scholastic Art Entrees 2016. Full Story
( JP Yim )
Kanye West's super strict rules for Yeezy show models
Kanye West had some pretty strict rules for how models at his Yeezy Season 3 fashion extravaganza should display his clothes.


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The researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center said that the same traits that make cranberry juice an effective weapon against bladder infections could also hold promise for protecting teeth against cavities.
Compounds found in cranberry juice make it difficult for bacteria to stick to tooth surfaces. "Stickiness is everything for the microbe Streptococcus mutans, which creates most cavities by eating sugars and then excreting acids that cause dental decay," says the study.
The researchers found that cranberry juice disrupts the formation of glucans, the building blocks of plaque.
"Bacteria use enzymes known as glucosyltransferases to build dental plaque piece by piece, quickly forming a gunky fortress that covers the tooth and gives bacteria a safe haven to munch on sugar, thrive, and churn out acid. Cranberry juice prevents bacteria from forming plaque by inhibiting those enzymes and by stopping additional bacteria from glomming on to the ever-growing goo," say the researchers.
The study, which is due to be published in the January 2006 issue of Caries Research, is funded by the Natioanl Institutes of Health through a special program designed to test the health-enhancing effects of cranberry.
Indeed, the ingredient is already widely used in food applications, and is currently one of the emerging plants in the cosmetic world, meeting consumers' demands for healthier and multi-functional ingredients in products. As an ingredient it has a distinctive pink hue and contains a number of naturally-derived active properties.
For cosmetics applications the ingredient is likely to prove an excellent colorant for a variety of cosmetics products, including blushers, eye shadow and lipstick.
"The powder provides a rich red colour and importantly it is naturally derived, which is a key driving force behind marketing it for these kind of applications," said Decas Botanical Synergies, which recently introduced NutriCran Organic, a 100 per cent organic cranberry powder.
Sourced in Canada and Lappland, Sweden, the berries have potent anti-oxidising properties due to high quantities of polyphenols toctrienols - a natural source of vitamin E. Likewise the cranberry seeds consist of a balance of omega 3 and Omega 6 unsaturated fatty acids, which is said to allow the restoration of the skin's protective barrier.
The ingredient is also likely to become a good option for formulators of anti-aging products. It falls in line with the drive to increase the percentage of natural or organically derived ingredients in cosmetics ingredients as well as the growing demand for ingredients with expectional antioxidants properties.
Antioxidants have been scientifically proven to help reduce physical signs of aging and as a consequence ingredients boasting strong antioxidant properties have become much sort after for anti-aging treatments.
A study conducted by the Clemson University in Southern California back in 2003 concluded that the antioxidant properties of berry fruits make them ideal for use in anti-aging treatments.


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VYBERENT – Headlining Designer Brand www.vyberent.com
Sunday, October 23rd. 2022
Tintedteal – Crafting your confidence with a tint of teal check out www.tintedteal.com for the amazing jewelry!
Music: “Humsafar” by ASHTOSH
Filmed & Edited: Cerasela Dorran
Venue: FashionBar Level 3 – Water Tower Place, 835 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago IL 60611. Chicago Fashion Week powered by FashionBar LLC and
More info on South Asian Fashion Show hosted by Chicago Fashion Week powered by FashionBar LLC
In honor of New York Fashion Week, here are 7 golf brands we'd put on the runway
The lines between high fashion, sportswear, and street style have become blurred and it's reflected in what we see prominent brands producing. While there may not be a runway show or week ...
Law Roach, the image architect, rethinks his own image with a New York Fashion Week show
NEW YORK (AP) — Celebrity stylist Law Roach has refilled his cup, emerging out of retirement this week for a New York Fashion Week collaboration with luxury Indian fashion brand Falguni Shane ...
Everyone Freed The Nipple At Fashion Week, Both On & Off The Runway
A year ago, Florence Pugh rolled up to a fashion show during Couture Week in a sheer gown that exposed her nipples. People, AKA keyboard warriors, were so offended by the revealing style they ...
‘This is more than a fashion show — it’s a healing process.’ The Toronto Plus Size Fashion Show was a celebration of self-love
Everywhere I looked backstage at the Toronto Plus Size Fashion Show, models were excitedly chatting, practicing their walks together and trading compliments. The laid-back mood was very unlike the ...
‘Subverting what a show is’: London fashion week goes beyond the catwalk
A new hybrid of performance and fashion is emerging ... at London fashion week. Harris Reed even began the theme before Vogue World – on Wednesday night, he staged a show that saw models ...
Drew Barrymore stalking suspect trespasses NYFW show seeking Emma Watson, police say
According to prosecutors, Busto entered the fashion show ... host was not there at the time. More:Drew Barrymore to return amid writer's strike. Which other daytime talk shows will follow? Last ...
Pittsburgh Fashion Week returns with new ownership
Instead of a full week of scheduled events, Rothschild decided for his inaugural year to start with one fashion show on Friday night at The Wintergarden at PPG, Downtown. It will feature designers ...
Drew Barrymore stalking suspect trespasses at fashion show looking for Emma Watson, police say
Man accused of trespassing at fashion show looking for ... The "Scream" actor and "Drew Barrymore Show" TV host was not there at the time. Last week, after Busto failed to show up to be fitted ...
YouTube Prankster Crashes Fashion Show Wearing Trash Bag, Gets Tackled by Security
New York Fashion Week just wrapped up ... No one in the audience seemed to bat an eye and figured he was part of the show, even though he repeatedly looked behind him as if he was being chased ...
Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney hits the runway at New York Fashion Week
Dylan Mulvaney, a 26-year-old transgender influencer hit the runway for New York Fashion Week on Wednesday night for The Blonds Spring-Summer 2024 fashion show. The controversial social media star ...
Monin breaks ground for 1st South Asia plant in Hyd
Speaking on the occasion, IT minister KT Rama Rao urged Monin to make the facility its hub for not just South Asia but Middle East and South East Asia as well and enhance its investment beyond 300 ...
Law Roach, the image architect, rethinks his own image with Falguni Shane Peacock's New York Fashion Week show
Law Roach was creative director for Falguni Shane Peacock's New York Fashion Week ... Chicago would come in and take the fashion game by storm.” In a neon pink pantsuit with a feather train, TV ...


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We had quite the journey at Purple Haze, bringing recreational cannabis to the city of Everett. Initiative 502, which allows the legalization of cannabis products, came with new, demanding laws, that are still deliberated today.
It’s difficult opening a business that is so new and unfamiliar. Simply finding a location became exhausting in itself. We needed to be a specific amount of feet away from neighboring cannabis retail stores, have proper security protocols, and ensure our display sign is exponentially smaller than a Target or Wal-Mart sign. That was just a taste of our ambiguous requirements. All of these rules and regulations have hindered our progress to open doors sooner. But now we’re here and although state regulations will change, we will honor them to keep our doors open.
For now, it’s time to cater to our customers. Visit Purple Haze at http://purplehazellc.com/


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Ten 20-somethings to present generational topics in 20 minute flash sessions
(BOSTON, MA) – Today, FutureM, the weeklong event experience on the future of Marketing (October 23 – 26, 2012), announces one-of-a-kind session topics from a generation, current 20-somethings, that has developed with digital in its pocket. New this year, FutureM is featuring ten 20-year old entrepreneurs, students and marketing gurus who will speak to what is next in Marketing from a millennial perspective.
“In marketing, all it takes is a fresh perspective and a risk taking idea to generate changes in a creative industry. That is why we are so excited about the marketing concepts and twists to conventional thinking we will see from these 20-somethings,” said MITX President, Debi Kleiman. “Generation Y is notably the first generation to have digital at its finger tips and FutureM will put them to the test to see if they are worth their salt.”
FutureM selected the freshest and most creative minds to present provocative ideas, debate-worthy questions and unique scenarios. Presentations include:
- A forecast of the future impact of Google’s Project Glass, as compared to the past rise of smart phones, from Tyler Conklin, co-founder of Facelift Media Group and graduate of SUNY Oswego
- A deep dive into why @LadyGaga as the best example of brands of the future, by Katie Martell, the Director of Buzz at Netprospex and graduate of Emerson College
- An exploration of the future of digital in the physical world, from Malia Estes, a Digital Media Planner at Mullen and a graduate of Boston University
- An assessment of the future of content curation in an information-rich world, from the founder of Curata and graduate of MIT, Pawan Deshpande
- A prediction of millennial’s impact on organizations as leaders and on marketers as the core consumer demographic from Providence College grad, Julia Pandolfo, currently an Associate Community Manager at Communispace
- A clear description of neuromarketing and its impact on the future by the only 20-something CEO studying the discipline, Jake Stauch, Founder of NeuroSpire
- A study of a millennial’s views and engagement with 21st Century brands, from Jason Potteiger, founder of Mercury Point Research and graduate of Suffolk University
- A talk about the future integration of offline communities, like universities, with online communities from Chief Imagination Officer at influencers@, Spencer Bramson
- The sharing of the secret of tomorrow: smarter and scalable 1-to-1 marketing, achievable through social CRM by the Director of Product Marketing at TrueLens and the founder of MakePovertyHistoryEmirates, Anish Kattukaran
- A presentation on the future of Marketing in industries not driven by consumers, like biotech and social services, from Williams College grad and Senior Associate of Strategic Marketing at Foundation Medicine, Jacquelyn Miller
Established in 1996, MITX -- the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange -- is the leading industry organization focused on the web and mobile, bringing together the digital marketing, media and technology community to engage in what’s next and how it will impact the marketing and business worlds. Connecting more than 7,500 professionals in New England, MITX is a dynamic community of thought leaders and collaborators in search of insight, education and opportunity. For more information, visit http://www.mitx.org/. Creator of FutureM, MITX is headquartered in Boston, MA. Follow the conversation on Facebook, Twitter @FutureMBoston and #FutureM and on MITX’s blog.


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Originally released last year and a half ago on Nintendo’s handheld, developers WayForward have brought the latest Shantae adventure to the PS4 with Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse.
In this new trailer for Square Enix and Eidos-Montreal’s upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Adam Jensen explains how he’s embraced his augmentations and is ready to fight against conspiracy.
Night School Studios’ terrific adventure game Oxenfree is coming to the PS4 on May 31.
It looks like Guile, a fan favorite and classic fighter, is coming to Street Fighter V.
After a period of silence, 2K and Hanger 13 have finally revealed more information regarding their upcoming open world sandbox adventure Mafia III.
It seems that World of Warcraft is still going strong, as Blizzard Entertainment has announced that their long-running MMORPG will be getting a new expansion on August 30.
We all knew it was coming, but it’s been finally confirmed. EA and Respawn Entertainment have released a teaser trailer for the upcoming Titanfall 2.
The first new challenger for Street Fighter V has arrived. Alex, the hero of Street Fighter III, is now available for use.
If you saw Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning sci-fi film Gravity, you might have found yourself wondering what you would have done in Sandra Bullock’s shoes as she aimlessly floated through space.
The wait is finally over. Ubisoft and Ubisoft Massive’s online third-person military-based shooter/RPG hybrid Tom Clancy’s The Division is finally available to the masses, bringing intense guerilla warfare shooter action, light RPG elements and squad based tactics to the ruins of New York City.


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‘One of the trickiest platforms to crack’: Bud Light is now testing paid media on Reddit
Bud Light is bringing back its iconic “Real Men of Genius” campaign but with a new twist: It’s all about the internet. That’s why, for this campaign, the Anheuser-Busch brand has focused its media dollars on platforms like Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube, rather than traditional platforms like linear television. It’s also why Bud Light will run its first paid media execution on Reddit this week.
Bud Light’s push to paid on Reddit follows another Anheuser-Busch brand, Michelob Ultra, testing out paid media on the platform. Earlier this month, Michelob Ultra began running a paid spot targeting runners for the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon on Reddit. The Anheuser-Busch brands’ work on Reddit come as Reddit has tried to woo more advertising dollars to its platform.
“This campaign is going to be our first foray into Reddit,” said Bud Light’s digital director, Conor Mason. “In terms of paid media strategy, it’s one of the trickiest platforms to be able to crack because it’s people anonymously uploading great content independently of where it came from.”
To stand out, the beer brand created a digital spot that speaks specifically to Reddit users, saluting the user on the platform who sorts the content by what’s new to read rather than by what’s trending. Creating work that speaks directly to the Reddit user is a newer approach from a brand perspective, said Mason, adding that “Reddit is still pretty young when it comes to advertising on the platform.” Previously, ads on Reddit were typically banner ads. Now, marketers posting ads that are speaking directly to users to drive conversation.
“Reddit is becoming more attractive for marketers,” Amanda Parker, account supervisor at digital shop PMG, wrote in an email, adding that marketers who are keen to diversify their spending and find avenues outside of the Google and Facebook duopoly are the most open to the platform.
“Reddit has diversified their video ad offerings and offered [cost-per-click] pricing so we are seeing some clients look at them as a possibility now for the first time,” said one media buyer. “It’s a highly engaged community which means we have to be really thoughtful about the creative we use there.”
Figuring out how to speak to the Reddit community was key for Bud Light, as the creative needed to speak directly to the users. “The average user on Reddit is spending more time on Reddit than they are across almost any social media platforms,” said Mason. “There is a huge user base there, and the question is, really, how do you speak to Reddit and the 150,000 plus sub-Reddits in a way that you don’t feel like a brand?”
In 2018, Bud Light spent $261.7 million in media, per Kantar Media, which also reported that the brand has spent $77 million in media in the first quarter of 2019.
Bud Light declined to share how it spends its media budget or if it is increasing or decreasing spending anywhere. The beer brand did share that, in recent months, it has also adding Twitch to its roster of platforms with a channel focused on the Overwatch League, as it is focusing more on esports.
“We are trying to follow where people are spending their time,” said Mason, in terms of the brand’s media spending. “Reddit is a huge, one and Twitch is another. We’ll continue to grow that direction.”
In terms of metrics to measure the success of a campaign, Bud Light tracks engagement, likes and shares. Though, recently, Anheuser-Busch as a company has been looking more at consumer conversation as a metric. “We’re trying to start a conversation and be a part of the conversation,” said Mason, adding that the new platforms will help them do that.
‘I’m worried about my job’: Confessions of a stressed out ACD on homeschooling his son and working from home
An associate creative director is stressed about overseeing his son's remote learning this fall while successfully meeting client needs.
‘No one is rushing to commit Q4 budgets’: With its future in the U.S. increasingly uncertain, media buyers are holding back spending on TikTok
The executive order signed late last week has now spurred advertisers who were considering testing the nascent platform to steer clear for the time being, especially since TikTok now has until September 20th to sell its U.S. operations or face the consequences of President Trump’s order.
Member Exclusive‘Like being conned’: Agency employees say that fake job listings are making the already difficult job market even harder
If you ask agency talent about the job search you’ll hear them bemoan alleged fake job postings as an industry scourge.
SponsoredPublishers are creating new risk protections to guarantee vendor payments
As the industry navigates the continued impacts of COVID-19, here’s the questions publishers should ask their programmatic partners or ad management providers to protect themselves from clawbacks and lost revenue.
WTF is redirect tracking?
Redirect tracking offers an alternative to the third-party cookie, which is why web browsers are clamping down on it.
‘Let’s put it out in the world’: Why Code and Theory is creating its own thought leadership publication, Decode
The publication gives the agency a home for opinion and thought leadership pieces from its staffers, many of whom have been writing pieces for industry publications in recent years.


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Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 07:00 am PT (10:00 am ET)
Apple iPad demand exceeding pre-launch iPhone buzz?A new survey has found that 13 percent of respondents are likely to buy Apple's forthcoming iPad, a number greater than the 9 percent who planned to purchase an iPhone before its launch in 2007.
Details of the survey from RBC/ChangeWave were released Tuesday by RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky. He said the responses from 3,200 participants show strong pent-up consumer demand for the iPad, which could bode well for Apple's new product.
One of the strongest assets for the iPad is its $499 starting price. While 28 percent of respondents in 2007 said the iPhone was too expensive, only 8 percent in 2010 said they would not buy the iPad based on its price. In addition, while 19 percent said they are interested in the $499, 16GB model, another 19 percent said they would opt for the high-end, $829, 64GB model with 3G.
The survey also found that lack of a camera, support for Adobe Flash, or multitasking have not had a significant impact on buyer interest. Most consumers plan on using the iPad for a variety of functions, suggesting it will serve as more of a netbook than e-reader. Of those surveyed, 68 percent said they would surf the Internet with the iPad, 44 percent would check e-mail, and 37 percent are interested in reading e-books.
The survey also found the iPad will also have an effect on sales of other Mac products: 25 percent of respondents said they will delay planned purchases of one or more Apple products due to the iPad. MacBook purchases will be delayed by 9 percent of respondents, while 10 percent were prospective iPhone buyers that will now postpone their purchase.
The survey's positive outlook for the iPad led Abramsky to maintain its prediction of 5 million units sold in the calendar year 2010, resulting in $2.4 billion in revenue and 33 cents earnings per share.
"This data, while preliminary, suggests iPad may have greater potential than expected, to expand Apple's addressable PC, iPod markets and to capture a segment of the home PC market," Abramsky wrote.
RBC Capital Markets has reiterated its outperform rating for AAPL stock, and has maintained a price target of $275.
On Topic: Current Hardware
- Users report install, crashing issues with latest MacBook Air EFI update
- Apple issues MacBook Air EFI update to address wake from sleep problems on mid-2011 models
- Deals: 7-10% off CTO Retina MacBook Pros, $859 13" MacBook Air; $101 off 32GB AT&T iPad Airs, $350 off iPhone 5 refurbs
- Killer Deal: Save up to $250 on Apple's latest Macs plus get a 3-Year AppleCare Protection Plan for free (now with iMacs, Mac Pros & Mac minis)
- Apple's surprising sales in emerging markets like China & Latin America keep Mac growth ahead of PC market


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| December 27, 2012
Starbucks urging Washington to 'Come Together'
Starbucks has a new initiative that is calling on elected officials in Washington to work together to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. Baristas in select retail outlets are writing the message "Come Together" on cups as part of the initiative. The Morning Joe panel discusses.


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Shweta Purandare to be the next Secretary General of ASCI
Purandare, currently COO of ASCI, has over 22 years of industry experience. Ashutosh Geedh has been appointed for the newly created post of Chief Administrative Officer
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the self-regulatory organization of advertising content and protecting the interest of consumers in India announced that Alan Collaco, ASCI’s Secretary General will be retiring from the organization effective May 30, 2014. He will remain with ASCI through May 2014 to ensure a smooth and successful transition for his successor, Shweta Purandare, currently Chief Operations Officer of ASCI. She will assume the role of Secretary General as of June 01, 2014.
Purandare has over 22 years of industry experience, having worked with eminent companies such as Cipla, Merind, P&G and L’Oreal. She has been actively associated with ASCI as the Chief Operations Officer since last one year. In her new role, she will continue to handle consumer complaints process. In addition, she will be leading marketing, public relations and social media initiatives for the ASCI.
Ashutosh Geedh joined ASCI in the newly created post of Chief Administrative Officer on May 5th, 2014. He has done his MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. His experience spans over 19 years in such companies as Patni Computers, LIC, Securex Capital Advisors and Towering Heights Telecommunications. He will broadly be responsible for administration, finance & accounts, HR, legal, IT and internal & external communication. He will report to the Secretary General.
Commenting on this occasion ASCI’s Chairman, Partha Rakshit said, “Alan will be greatly missed by ASCI members for his tremendous commitment to excellence. While we are indebted to him for his exemplary service to ASCI’s mission, we are also confident that his successor, Shweta, will demonstrate strong leadership skills and analytical insights, further supporting the association’s vision and mission.”
“Also, the appointment of Ashutosh will further strengthen the association’s operations, thereby ensuring seamless functioning across various departments and external bodies,” Partha further added.
“I am grateful to the ASCI team for offering me the desired platform to get associated with India’s largest self-regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising sector. I am deeply honoured to have had the opportunity to be in the core team of ASCI, supporting the association’s vision of protecting the interests of the consumers.” said Alan Collaco.
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QR codes have been hitting mainstream a lot. Proof? Aside from the multitudes of companies that includes the biggest brands that use QR codes for their marketing campaign, QR codes has also been getting quite a lot of media exposure of late. From TV, cable TV, magazines, and newspapers.
The latest we have is the Wall Street Journal. A report by Emily Glazer details the QR code efforts of Ethical Bean Coffee Co.
Ethical Bean, a three-store chain in Canada has Vancouver has placed advertisements on trains. People who scan these codes are taken to a mobile menu, from which they can order whatever they want and it will be waiting for them when at any Ethical Bean shop.
The idea is precious. On top of allowing people to get familiar with the company, it gives them a glimpse of its products and prices. Not only that, it gives superior customer service by cutting the waiting time and allowing people to order their coffee while on the go.
Catering to busy people has given the company the chance to double its sales. They are not alone, Glazer writes, as other companies have also executed QR code campaigns and have seen a boost in sales.
The Wall Street Journal also gives a rundown on why QR codes work: increase in smartphone usage,
The WSJ also confirms that companies are using QR codes for their marketing on direct mail, in-store advertising, advertisements, packaging, among other to give out discounts and more information via videos and websites.
Problems still present
It is not all rosy for QR codes though. The WSJ report outlines the problems, including:
- Consumers who have no idea what QR codes are and how to use them;
- A lot of competing technologies and standards;
- The cost of running a QR code campaign, which includes the mobile website or video or whatever information you place behind it.
QR code generation should be free and easy.
These problems are easily surpassed though. A look at the BeQRious blog posts could help you get ideas on how to educate your target market, while competing technologies is not a big problem because the QR code IS the standard and most prevalently used.
The campaign cost problem really baffles us. It is free to use a QR code maker. The videos, the website and other marketing materials are what you normally would use for marketing your products or business. True, it takes a lot to be creative, but that does not mean that you have to create a QR code campaign all by itself.
The best thing about QR codes is that it is easy to integrate with all your existing marketing campaign, it’s not like you are going to start everything from scratch.
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When it comes to the environment, we all have to pitch in. While it is best to minimize the amount of waste we produce, there is still garbage that we have to take care of. One of the best ways to dispose garbage is to segregate it. You can always sell recyclable materials such as […]Read more
Parents of kids with autism have many fears. One of them is losing their kids as they wander off to some place they are not familiar with. QR codes have been helping parents with autistic kids. It is a fact that most kids with autism will wander and get lost with their parents. It happened […]Read more
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Kansas Backtracks on Proposed Legislation Authorizing Hemp in Animal Feed
Legislators in Kansas have doubled back on a measure that would have legalized hemp in animal feed. Under federal law, hemp was legalized through the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. The plant was subsequently removed from the list of controlled substances.
Hemp is defined as the Cannabis sativa L. plant, and any part of it, including extracts, seeds, acids, isomers, cannabinoids and salts, among others, with not more than 0.3% of THC. Despite legalizing overall use of hemp, the Farm Bill did not allow the use of hemp or hemp products in food for animals or humans.
HB 2168, the introduced substitute bill, will reduce licensing fees on hemp in Kansas to no more than $500 annually, down from more than $1,000.
Midwest Hemp Technology CEO Sarah Stephens stated that the substitute measure was less controversial than a resolution introduced last year that would have legalized hemp in animal feed. She then noted that despite the measure’s substitution, the reduced licensing fees for hemp was a win.
HB 2168 was approved by the state’s House of Representatives two weeks ago in a 105 to 6 vote. It has been forwarded to the Senate for consideration. Under this measure, the state would adopt federal rules on feeding hemp to animals. Currently, states are allowed to manufacture feeds made with ingredients defined by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (“AAFCO”)
AAFCO is a nonprofit organization whose members are government agencies representing the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and U.S. states. As of 2020, AAFCO still prohibited the use of hemp and its products in pet food or animal feed in the United States.
It is expected that the association will, later this year, decide on an application that would allow hemp seed meal in layer diets. Many expect the members to vote yes on the application. If the legislation does get approved, hemp-seed-meal sales to poultry producers could commence shortly afterward. Regarding registration feeds, producers of hemp may start paying the lower fees early next year.
Stephens also noted that despite not seeing any progress on this matter in 2023, this move forward felt like the Kansas Department of Agriculture was telling the industry it wanted things to work out.
Overall, interest in industrial hemp products has increased greatly in the last five years following the plant’s descheduling. It is expected that the size of the industrial hemp market will grow significantly over the next few years, reaching $18.1 billion by 2027. This growth is likely to bring more business opportunities for enterprises such as Astrotech Corp. (NASDAQ: ASTC) that specialize in making testing equipment for the hemp and marijuana industries.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Astrotech Corp. (NASDAQ: ASTC) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ASTC


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Jay-Z’s move is seen as a challenge to Sweden’s Spotify and to Apple, which recently bought the headphone maker and music-streaming operator Beats Music, founded by rapper Dr Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine.
Project Panther Bidco Ltd, the company controlled by Jay-Z, said on Friday that it had agreed to buy Sweden-listed Aspiro, which is based in Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city.
Project Panther Bidco Ltd. has offered SEK 1.05 in cash per share of Aspiro, whose board has recommended that shareholders accept the offer. The deal is subject to Panther buying more than 90 percent of the shares and getting regulatory approvals, AP reports.
According to the Financial Times, Wimp offers more than 25 million songs and 75,000 music videos to more than 500,000 subscribers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland. By comparison, the pioneering Swedish music-streaming service Spotify is currently available in 58 countries and has 15 million paying subscribers and 45 million more using its free service.
Besides producing global hit tunes, Brooklyn-born Jay-Z, 45, runs a business empire that has spanned nightclubs, clothing lines and beauty products.


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Expect machine washable clothing that can track you’re your heart rate, BMI, and a host of your bodily functions.
Turns out smartwatches may have a limited shelf life after all: in the near future their existence could be reduced to a redundancy since the very clothes that you wear could have the capability to monitor your heart.
Researchers have now developed polymer optical fibers that are flexible enough to be woven into clothing, thus opening the doors for sensors in our outfits. If that wasn’t enough, these sensors are likely to be washing machine friendly to boot.
So theoretically, you could slip on your ordinary looking shirt which tracks your BPM and after your run you could just toss it for laundry.
The trick is to craft the fiber such that it melts and splits into two polymers: while one will transmit the light-based data, the other will serve as a protective coating.
Although in theory this sounds simple enough, in practice it is quite a Himalayan task: you cannot just normally melt and spin optical fibers.
The techniques evolved by the scientists allow for high production volumes.
The current focus of the researchers is to cater to the needs of hospitals for such clothing, since patients wearing these sensor-equipped clothing can be easily monitored for their vital signs without risking pricks and sores that normally accompany traditional sensors.
The researchers now aim to expand this technology to track oxygen levels, pressures and other crucial data.
It is reasonable to expect this technology to eventually step outside of the medical field, so don’t be surprised to see fitness apparels that track your bodily stats without any obvious signs of technology embedded into them.


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The Bitcoin Cash price marks a 15% increase since the hard fork with the price sitting at $290 currently so let’s take a closer look at the price analysis in our Bitcoin Cash news.
Bitcoin Cash price marks a 15% increase since November’s hard fork which is about the same price level from two years ago when the chain split into BCH and BSV. A month ago today, the blockchain was split into two again so these forks are enough to make the investors scared despite the fact that the returns were solid, compared to trading after the BSV hard fork. Bitcoin Cash’s price increased by 15% in the last month and by 4% In the past 24hours in order to reach the current price level of $290.
BCH split into two chains on November 15- Bitcoin Cash Node BCHN and Bitcoin Cash ABC BCHA. BCHN has taken on the BCH title and it is trading for about $22 at the moment according to the data by Nomics. Two years ago, the Bitcoin Cash blockchain was divided into the Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV as a result of a disagreement about the size of the blocks and how many transactions will they be able to accommodate.
Though Bitcoin SV emerged as a smaller chain in terms of hash power, it engaged in a risky winner situation with mining groups reallocating resources from other blockchains. Finally, Bitcoin SV capitulated and agreed to coexist beside BCH. At the beginning of November 2018, BCH was worth $627 but then dropped to $293.19 the day of the split while a month later It dropped to $79.90. Bitcoin SV is now trading for $196.
Unlike Bitcoin, BCH remains far from the highs of $3,719 which it was able to reach on December 19, 2017, a few months after its split from BTC. What’s more, Bitcoin is growing at a much faster rate with the price increasing 20% in the last month alone. With three hard forks in the past three years happening, the Bitcoin Cash developers, users, and miners will need to practice compromise in order to continue going in the right direction.
As recently reported, Bitcoin Cash is the 6th largest crypto network by market capitalization but BCH Node is now the leading chain, surpassing BCH ABC by a wide margin. According to coin.dance data, the BCHN chain is now 56 blocks ahead of BCHA after the hard fork as it seems that the longest chain will win.
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Fresh from the announcement of his new mobile game development studio one month ago, games industry veteran and ex-Halfbrick Studios developer, Tony Takoushi, discusses the main concern for all iOS developers - Apple's App Store is way too crowded, and it's getting increasingly difficult to get your title noticed.
Tony's new studio, Total Arkade studios, launched their first game release, a word-based action puzzler called AbraWordabra, to consistently positive reviews with an average score of 80 percent on many major sites. Unfortunately for the new startup, AbraWordabra has been met with disappointing sales so far. The 30-year games veteran puts it down to the large signal to noise ratio that's plaguing Apple's popular distribution platform.
‘The iTunes store is a very different place from two years ago,’ says Takoushi. ‘There are around thirty games being released a day, and even if you can get some oxygen for your game, there is no guarantee it will succeed no matter how good it is.
Apple has done an amazing job empowering developers letting them to grow and make games that just wouldn't have been made before, and that's something special. They have literally blown the market wide open...the downside is that you also get a lot of poor quality games from opportunistic developers.’
Things don't fare that much better for AbraWordabra on the Android platform where pirate copies were available within a day of launch which Tony believes had a negative impact on sales. Most heartbreaking for Tony and his team is the fact thatAbraWordabra teetered on being a huge success. During the approval procedure, AbraWordabra was shortlisted for a highly global banner position on the App Store but missed out in the end. Receiving the highly sort-after promotional boost from Apple this way has meant an incredible amount of sales and success for many developers, but for Total Arkade studios, it was not meant to be.
As for the future, Tony is hoping he can keep his team on a work-for-hire project with publishers or find funding for another title.


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As retailers focus on how to spend wisely with Google, including through its Product Listing Ads, they also continue to fight for top rankings via natural search, an exclusive Internet Retailer survey shows.
The coming months will bring even more focus on ranking high in natural search results for the e-commerce professionals at Giggle.com.
The 10-year-old multichannel baby products retailer has a relatively small staff and online marketing budget. That’s one reason it fiercely competes for free listings on search page real estate increasingly crowded by Google’s paid search products, including Product Listing Ads, says Shawna Hausman, vice president of e-commerce and digital marketing. “There is considerably less space for organic search,” she says. “It’s become much more competitive.”
Giggle joins other retailers in trying to gain new customers through natural search. After all, this year’s exclusive Internet Retailer search marketing survey finds that 46.2% of respondents report increased traffic to their e-commerce sites over the past year through natural, or organic, search. The full findings will appear in the forthcoming November issue of Internet Retailer magazine.
Giggle, using technology from BloomReach Inc., aims to earn more search visibility by, among other tactics, creating more unique content on its web site. Indeed, adding content in such a way, which helps to persuade Google’s mathematical search formulas that a site is credible and appealing, stands as the most popular program for survey respondents seeking to boost their search optimization efforts. 68.5% of respondents cited better content, beating out rewriting keyword descriptions (67.1%) and employing phrases used by shoppers when they search (63.0%).
Internet Retailer bases its findings on anonymous responses from 95 participants, of whom the majority, 67.7%, identified themselves as working for web-only retailers. The survey ran from mid-September until mid-October. The survey results came in as e-retail marketers grapple with such issues as Google encrypting searches, making it more difficult to track the effectiveness of keywords in organic search; Google placing competitors’ search ads nearer a retailer’s own search results in a program called “search within a site”; and more online consumers using mobile devices for shopping, according to web measurement firm comScore Inc.
Emily Helander, product marketing manager for online marketing firm Kenshoo Ltd. boils down the current state of the search marketing world to this: “Competition will continue to stiffen with retailers fighting for real estate on smaller screens and across multiple channels which will make it critical for retailers to find ways to keep their brands visible.”
Survey results point to the power of search marketing:
• 32.9% of respondents report earning 50% or more of their online sales through their paid search and organic search programs combined.
• 40.3% of respondents say their search marketing budgets have increased in the last year. That compares with 16.9% who reported a decrease and 42.9% who reported no change.
• 53.3% of respondents plan to increase their pay-per-click search spending in the coming year.
Count web-only jeweler Allurez.com among the retailers looking to increase its spending on paid search. “It is becoming harder and harder to rank organically as Google keeps changing its algorithm,” says a spokesman for the retailer. “Also they have been putting more of an emphasis on sponsored results, and so we have no choice but to spend more on paid search. Also ever since Google Shopping stopped being free, we also had to spend more on this platform.”
For more information, please read the November issue of Internet Retailer magazine. You can obtain a free Internet Retailer subscription by clicking here.
By Thad Rueter Senior Editor
October 15, 2014, 1:00 PM


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Tubi, Fox Corporation’s ad-supported video-on-demand service, has teamed up with ChatGPT artificial intelligence program to change the way viewers navigate the streaming platform.
It is also the first time a streaming service has officially partnered with AI technology to elevate its search feature.
Tubi’s technology, Rabbit AI, which is powered by ChatGPT-4, allows “viewers to go beyond simple keyword searches and ask questions the same way you’d ask a friend.” For example, a user can type “shark movies that are funny” into Rabbit AI and they will receive a list of relevant titles such as “Sharknado” and “Sharkula.”
Tubi said its home screen will also change over time as the containers start to include more personalized recommendations, such as “having Hitchcock movies added to your Thriller container after an evening of watching classic films.”
Blake Bassett, senior director of product at Tubi, said, “One in five streamers binge watch because it’s convenient or easier than searching for another show.”
He added, “At Tubi, we’re uniquely situated to find content for viewers that’s specific to the moment they’re in because of our large library and our personalization and machine learning algorithms. With Rabbit AI, we’re making the content discovery experience fun again.”
According to the streamer, the technology builds upon its “current suite of content discovery tools,” which includes saving content to “My List,” liking or disliking titles or watching shows or movies.
Tubi said it started rolling out a beta test version of Rabbit AI to its iOS mobile app for users across the United States on Tuesday. The Rabbit AI plugin for ChatGPT is also available on OpenAI for subscribers.
Earlier this month, the streamer announced that it had reached more than 74 million monthly active users.


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Apple News is primed to offer a subscription bundle, but publishers should be wary of being Aggregated.
Spotify is making a major move into podcasts, where it appears to have clear designs to be the sort of Aggregator it cannot be when it comes to music.
The lesson of BuzzFeed is that dominant Aggregators like Facebook have no incentive to act against their self interest and support suppliers.
Netflix is an Aggregator, with a value chain that lets it drive demand, raise prices, and dismiss competition.
Amazon’s latest offering highlights the economic challenges facing open source companies — and Amazon should pay attention.
Apple’s management made three errors that led to the restatement of revenue; those errors, though, suggest that the company’s business is in better shape than it appears.
The most popular and most important posts on Stratechery in 2018.
The State of Technology, at least in the enterprise space, is strong; consumer tech is another story, and it is time to question the dominance of big companies like Google.
Aggregators succeed by being the best at doing the jobs consumers want done.
Apple’s case before the Supreme Court is about standing; Apple has a strong case. That, though, doesn’t mean the App Store isn’t a monopoly — and that Apple isn’t increasingly predicated on rent-seeking.


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Sept. 28, 2010 -- With stocks in the dumps and government deficits spiraling, Americans are increasingly turning their attention to precious metals like silver, which has doubled in price since the recession hit in 2008.
Silver hit a 30-year high of $21.47 an ounce Monday, up from under $9 when the financial crisis began, rising 35 percent so far this year.
The high price of gold -- the metal has also more than doubled in price over the past two years -- has sent investors scrambling for cheaper silver as a way to protect their assets. Silver has gained 21 percent in price versus gold this year.
"Some people are worried about the currency debasement and have done some research about the fundamentals of silver and fundamentals of gold and silver looks like a better deal," says David Morgan of The Morgan Report.
Silver's rise can also be traced to its industrial uses in everything from jewelry, mobile phone components to batteries.
But silver also has a checkered history that likely has faded from the minds of today's investors. In 1979 and 1980, silver prices skyrocketed to a historic high of $50 an ounce after billionaire investors Nelson and William Hunt tried to corner the market -- buying up all the silver they could get their hands on. The scheme failed, silver prices collapsed, and the brothers lost their billion-dollar fortune. They were later fined $10 million each, and banned from trading in U.S. commodities market.
Silver's ascent this time around has been much more gradual. "It's something that has been evolving for quite a few years," says David H. Smith, contributor to the natural resources investment guide The Morgan Report. "In the 80s we had a bull market that sent silver to $50 an ounce and then it went into a bear market after collapse. We moved into an accumulation phase and since that time silver and gold has been rising sharply."
Low interest rates are another factor in the rush to precious metals, experts say. The average money market account nationwide pays just .69 percent interest, according to Bankrate.com. That's less than 1 percent annually. Rates have been kept low by the Federal Reserve for the past two years in an effort to stimulate the economy.
For consumers, "putting money in the bank is no different from burying it in the ground. The interest rate is basically the same: It's zero. I think people put money in the bank just so they can write checks, there's no financial benefit to doing it," says Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Precious Metals.
Gold Versus Silver: The Ratio
Can the gains in precious metals continue? "I think silver has gotten ahead of itself," says Morgan. "It flew up very quickly and I don't care what the commodity is, if it moves that big of a percentage that quickly it's almost always due a correction."
Most personal finance experts advise only a small bet in gold and silver -- at most 5 percent to 10 percent of a portfolio.
"People get so excited they have more money invested in silver than they should for a sleeping level," says Smith. "Silver is known as the restless metal because it goes up and down."
Some experts see silver as the more attractive option because it's currently priced at a ratio of 62 compared with gold. The long-term ratio is about 15, which to some indicates that silver could rise much more in comparison with gold.
Individuals can buy gold and silver in ingots or coins from dealers or the U.S. Mint. Expect to pay a small premium over the current spot price. Another way to invest is shares of mining companies and mutual funds that specialize in precious metals.