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This year it is projected to come in at about 8,700 units. This is a far cry from its heyday, when the Commodore was Australia's best-selling auto by far, even hitting the 94 000 mark in 1998, according to CarAdvice . "The large sedan was the cornerstone of Australian and New Zealand roads for decades", he stated earlier today. "So far this year SUVs and Utes have increased to 76 percent of Holden sales, a trend we only see continuing".
So as a means of honoring the milestone, company founder Edward St. John surprised his workforce with a very special gift during their annual holiday party in Salt Lake City, Utah. "I heard over and over again that night that this was a life-changing event". "It was truly one of the most awesome things I've ever witnessed in my life".
Production fell by 0.7 percent during the three-month span with widespread declines across several manufacturing industries, while the construction industry tumbled by 2.3 percent in October alone. Commenting on the data, John Hawksworth PwC's chief economist placed the blame on continued Brexit uncertainty which led to a "loss of momentum" in the economy: "Growth seems likely to remain subdued through the rest of 2019, but we would hope for a gradual revival in activity over the course of ...
Funds from the IPO "should be invested, in domestic projects, with a large local content, while avoiding white elephants", according to Ziad Daoud, chief Middle East economist at Bloomberg Economics. Energy minister Prince Bin Salman said on Friday he believes Aramco will reach a $2tn valuation once listed. Moreover, the huge stock exchange would aid in meeting the Vision 2030 plan of Mohammed bin Salman.
The Department of Labor reported Friday that employers added 266,00 jobs last month, the largest number since January. But education and health services industries added 74,000 jobs, more than double these industries' additions from October.
Uber says 0.0003 percent of trips ended in the kind of "critical safety incident" tracked in the new report. The report added that passengers account for almost half of the accused parties, which could refer to an assault where another rider is the victim or the driver is the victim.
Brent oil rose 2% to more than $64 a barrel after Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said effective cuts could be as much as 2.1 million bpd as Saudi would carry on cutting more than its quota. Ahead of the meeting, Russia's oil producers adopted a tough stance , telling Novak they would refuse to countenance deeper production cuts until the current deal was up for renewal in March 2020.
Oil prices steadied around $61 a barrel on Tuesday as rising expectations of deeper output cuts from OPEC and its allies were countered by a potential delay to a US-China trade agreement until after the next US presidential election. Oil gained on December 4 ahead of an expected extension to production curbs by OPEC and its allies, with further support from industry data showing a larger than forecast drop in US crude stockpiles.
About 1,000 have either surrendered or been arrested. "The black force say they want to fight for freedom but now people can not even express their views freely". Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index declined 0.6% to 23,148.57 after customs data showed the country's exports falling 9.2% in October from a year earlier, with sharp declines in shipments to China, South Korea and the U.S.
Lowe's could attract more "regular shoppers" by distinguishing itself from Home Depot, he added, stressing "the softer side of home improvement". Lowe's bought Rona in 2016 in a deal valued at $3.2 billion. Lowe's remains in the midst of a catch-up period against chief competitor Home Depot "after underperforming for several years", said Elizabeth Suzuki, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
US electric vehicle pioneer Tesla TSLA.O will build its first European factory and design center near Berlin to produce cars "Made in Germany " as it seeks to burnish its reputation for reliability and sporting prowess. The moves come as the firm, which has also invested heavily in a Chinese factory, faces intensifying competition in the electric vehicle industry. The map below shows where the factory is going to be built .
Speaking at the Golden Steering Wheel Awards, Musk said last night the new European Gigafactory battery facility would be based in the Berlin 'burbs, close to the site of the as-yet-unopened Willy Brandt Airport at Berlin Brandenburg. "When we started out at Tesla everyone thought we were huge fools-and I thought we were fools too, frankly-but I thought it was important to get to a sustainable energy future".
The total assets of local billionaires shrank by 78 billion dollars to 500.9 billion dollars within a year. The net worth of China's richest dropped 12.8 per cent in dollar terms on the back of tumbling stock markets and a weaker local currency and as growth in the world's second-largest economy slowed to its lowest level in almost three decades in 2018, the report found, knocking dozens off the billionaires' list.
That symbolizes the five demands of Hong Kong's protest movement for direct elections, amnesty for arrested demonstrators and other wishes. Apple's troubles in China follow scrapes by numerous other western corporations who have run afoul of Chinese nationalism, often whipped up by state media, and come in the wake of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s dispute with Beijing after Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey Tweeted his support for the Hong Kong protest movement.
Under current spending rules the government can only borrow up to 2% of national income. Not only is every spending department about to see a budget increase , we have a Conservative government set to increase day-to-day spending on public services to a level far closer to what Labour promised in its 2017 manifesto than to what was implied by the Conservative manifesto.
The restaurant chain has hired advisers at corporate finance firm Houlihan Lokey to prepare for debt talks with creditors amid hard trading conditions for casual dining chains in the UK. Leigh Sparks, professor of retail studies at Stirling University, said: "The cost of doing business is a major issue right hnow and there is no reason that Pizza Express would be immune to that".
Growers have struggled due to low prices, the U.S. The most active corn contract for December delivery was up 0.75 cent, or 0.2 percent week on week, to close at 3.715 dollars per bushel on Friday. Harvested was 8%, behind 16% past year and 11% average. Chinese buyers have recently made a string of purchases, though, including up to 600,000 tonnes on Monday, according to traders.
In a new video, Nelson has put Apple's latest iPhone 11 to the test - prices for the most affordable of the new iPhone 11 series start at RM3,399 - and the results may surprise some. You don't even get an indicator in the Camera app to tell you it's working its magic. The Deep Fusion process goes a little something like this. Apple may only have just launched the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, but rumours surrounding the 2020 models have already been doing the rounds for the ...
We scrapped plans for an initial public offering last month after investors balked at the company's sky-high valuation. The decision, taken at a board meeting on Tuesday, follows a challenge to Neumann's authority by his biggest investors, including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, venture capital firm Benchmark Capital and Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital, the sources said.
European nations, including Britain, still adhere to an worldwide deal created to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions, but Trump has pulled the US out of the agreement. However, he gave no details, saying only that peace in the Strait of Hormuz could be achieved "in co-operation with various countries". Rouhani also promised to unveil a regional peace plan at the upcoming United Nations meetings.
Amazon is the first company to sign the pledge. "It's a hard challenge for us because we have deep large physical infrastructure". "When invention gets involved, when people get determined, when passion comes out, when they make strong goals, you can invent your way out of any box".
US President Donald Trump waves from Air Force One after landing in Mountain View, Calif., on September 17, 2019. An adviser to Iran's president tweeted that the press conference proved Saudi Arabia "knows nothing". Saudi Arabia's finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday the attack had no impact on revenues and Aramco was continuing to supply markets without interruption.


text: HomeNewsMEET TRITON PROS AT 2014 BASSMASTER CLASSIC EXPO MEET TRITON PROS AT 2014 BASSMASTER CLASSIC EXPO ASHLAND CITY, TENN. (FEB 17, 2014) — Bass fishing fanatics will have a chance to meet many of the top pros on the B.A.S.S. Elite Series trail in the Triton Boats booth at the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo, Feb. 21-23. The Expo, which takes place in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, is an annual event held in conjunction with the world’s most prestigious bass tournament, the Bassmaster Classic, which will take place on nearby Lake Guntersville. “The Classic Outdoors Expo is a fantastic opportunity for bass anglers to get up close and personal with their heroes on the pro tour,” said Triton founder Earl Bentz. “Our Pro Staff members, who are some of the leading anglers in the sport, will be on hand to sign autographs and talk fishing. This is a wonderful family event, and we’re excited to be a part of it.” Pro Staff members scheduled to be in the Triton booth include Shaw Grigsby, Boyd Duckett, Byron Velvick, Jeff Kriet, Paul Elias, Derek Remitz, Bradley Roy, Brandon Card, Jamie Horton, David Mullins and Guy Eaker – anglers Bentz described as “the cream of the pro bass fishing crop.” Visitors to the booth can also enter a daily drawing for a chance to win a set of four Triton-branded Duckett Fishing Micro-Magic bass rods, Bentz said. In addition, visitors stopping by the Triton booth can get a close look at Triton’s legendary bass boats, including the flagship 21 TrX, a new extreme performance fiberglass tournament model, and the X18, a feature-packed aluminum rig. “All Triton fishing boats are designed with input from our Pro Staff,” Bentz explained. “We feel this gives our boats an extra measure of fishability, performance and quality that surpasses our competition.” Test drives of the new TrX will also be available at the Classic launch site on Lake Guntersville immediately after each morning’s blastoff, he added. Expo attendees will also be able to purchase the latest Triton apparel and take advantage of the company’s generous Catch of the Season promotion, which offers new boat buyers the option of a generous cash rebate or a pro-level product package, Bentz noted. For more information about Triton Boats, log onto www.tritonboats.com, or call (615) 792-4600. About Fishing Holdings, LLC Fishing Holdings, LLC, headquartered in Flippin, Ark., is owned by Platinum Equity. Fishing Holdings, LLC is the nation’s premier manufacturer of fiberglass and aluminum fishing boats, including the legendary Ranger, Stratos and Triton brands. More details, product information and specific offerings can be found by visiting www.tritonboats.com, www.rangerboats.com, andwww.stratosboats.com.

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The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says oil marketers have commenced the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).
This comes seven full weeks after President Bola Tinubu’s May 29 inaugural address, during which he declared that “fuel subsidy is gone”.
With this latest development, the monopoly of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited comes to an end.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, made the revelation on Monday during a stakeholder engagement in Lagos.
Of the 56 oil marketing companies that applied for and obtained licences, 10 indicated the ability to import in the third quarter of 2023, while three had “landed cargo”, the CEO said.
Ahmed listed the three companies currently importing the product to include, A.Y. Ashafa, Prudent Energy, and Emadeb, adding that others would import between August and September.


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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Girl Scouts are changing their sales tactics as social distancing guidelines are putting a damper on their cookie sales.
While they take orders for the familiar Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos and Samoas, cookie booths in front of stores across East Tennessee were also a larger part of the organizations fundraising. This year, with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, cookie booth sales were on hold, leaving thousands of boxes still on hand.
Girls Scouts are now shifting to a digital cookie store to replace the booths.
“The reason we really want to sell the cookies is because girls plan their whole year,” Lynn Fugate, CEO of the Girls Scouts of the Southern Appalachians, said. “They set goals about the activities they want to do.”
If you are still looking for cookies, you can find them online and you can order from local Girls Scouts here: https://www.girlscoutcsa.org/.
- Tennessee Coronavirus: State has had 196,139 COVID-19 cases and 2,454 deaths
- Reports of elderly exploitation in Tennessee up more than 50% from 2015 to 2019, state report says
- Human remains found at Campbell County home during welfare check
- Downtown Knoxville Alliance gives $250,000 boost to Fort Kid renovation
- Friends of the Knox County Public Library donate $50,000 on 50th anniversary


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A number of would-be entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch their latest ventures to a room full of business professionals at this year’s New York Multicultural Business Expo.
The all-day business event, starting at 8 a.m. on March 15 at Leonard’s of Great Neck, will be the multicultural business expo’s first visit to Long Island.[dmc-related-post-wp numitems="3" title="Also read"]
Along with the startups, minority-owned companies from a variety of markets will exhibit at the event.
The startup segment, taking place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., will be moderated by local business consultant Rob Basso.
A panel of guests, such as Daymond John from the ABC series Shark Tank, will be in attendance to critique the business ventures.
More breaking news
- NEFCU opens in Huntington Station
- Pall shareholders vote for sale to Danaher
- Tough Mudder bound for LI
- Applications for US jobless aid rise to still-low 267,000
- US home rental prices rise again in June
- More Central Islip condos on deck
- LI construction employment rises in June
- Nassau Coliseum developer gets $4.4M tax break
- Westbury fish wholesaler fined $100G
- Farmingdale housing development gets $1.6M tax break


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These are the states getting hit the hardest by trade-war tariffs
An additional 15% tax was applied to Chinese imports into the U.S. this month, and there are more slated to take effect near the end of the year. China, of course, is retaliating with tariffs of its own. The two sides have hammered each other with tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods since 2018.
Published:9/9/2019 2:52:02 PM


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Wearables and other connected devices have been available to help treat chronic conditions like asthma and heart disease for a while now. But thus far, the nation’s 30 million diabetics largely have been ignored. They haven’t seen much to help them to improve their health or reduce the daily grind of finger pricks and needle pokes.
The $2.5 billion connected-care industry may be off to a late start in diabetes, but it’s making up for lost time. A new breed of connected glucometers, insulin pumps and smartphone apps is hitting the market that promise to make it easier for diabetics to manage the slow-progressing disease and keep them motivated with feedback and support. Startups and multinationals alike plan to showcase the technology this week in Las Vegas at the industry’s flagship health-tech show, produced by the Health Information and Management Systems Society, or HIMSS, industry group.
And in as little as two years, the industry plans to take charge of the entire uncomfortable, time-consuming routine of checking and regulating blood-sugar levels with something called an artificial pancreas. Such systems mimic the functions of a healthy pancreas by blending continuous glucose monitoring, remote-controlled insulin pumps and artificial intelligence to maintain healthy blood-sugar levels automatically.
Read my entire column in the Tech section of USA TODAY.


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AMD’s Ryzen was a huge success for the semiconductor company in 2017, winning new business, reinvigorating the consumer market, and pushing Intel to make the most aggressive realignment of its consumer product families we’d seen in a decade. From the addition of Hyper-Threading to low-end processors to huge price cuts on higher core counts, Ryzen pushed Intel in new directions.
The server market, however, has been a different animal. While AMD has always made it clear that it intended to return to the server space, the company also stated it would do so gradually, ramping up production over time. Now we’re seeing what some of those partnerships will look like, courtesy of a newly announced initiative with Dell.
The three platforms are the Dell PowerEdge R6415, R7415, and the R7425. The R6415 is a 1U configuration, while the R7415 and R7425 are 2U designs (shown below).
An Epyc Forecast
Epyc was a major topic at last week’s conference call. During the call, AMD CEO Lisa Su noted that Sunnyvale’s enterprise, embedded, and semi-custom product family (EESC) sales were up 3 percent that quarter, on the strength of Epyc. She also noted that Epyc had a positive impact on gross margin and AMD’s overall financial position. Asked to give details on what AMD is expected for 2018, Su stated:
I do expect that steady ramp of EPYC as we go through the year. Our target is to be at mid-single-digit unit share by the end of 2018. And so, there would be significant revenue from EPYC as we are in the second half of ‘18.
Dell says AMD’s servers deliver up to 20 percent lower cost of ownership in a single-socket, four-node, VSAN configuration. Those sorts of improvements could appeal to a number of customers, and AMD’s stated goal of hitting a midrange single-digit market share by the end of the year seems plausible (let’s call that 4-6 percent). That relatively small improvement would still constitute a significant increase for AMD, and it’d be in line with year-on-year improvements AMD has seen previously when it fielded competitive server architectures, as shown above.
Intel Launches AMD Radeon-Powered CPUs
Intel's new Radeon+Kaby Lake hybrid CPUs are headed for store shelves. Here's how the SKUs break down and what you need to know.
Should Spectre, Meltdown Be the Death Knell for the x86 Standard?
Spectre and Meltdown are serious CPU flaws, but do they warrant throwing out the entire closed-source CPU model?
Western Digital’s My Cloud Storage Devices Have Hard-Coded Backdoor
Western Digital's My Cloud network attached storage (NAS) devices claim to offer an easy, all-in-one solution for storing your data at home. However, they might also be providing an easy, all-in-one solution for hackers to steal your data take control of your device.
Huawei’s Phone Deal With AT&T Reportedly Killed On Account of Politics
The upcoming (and unannounced) deal with AT&T to sell the new Mate 10 series was supposed to be the start of Huawei's push into North America, but the deal has reportedly fallen apart at the last minute after AT&T got cold feet, and some sources point to a political cause.


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As I reported a couple of days ago on Facebook, AquaBounty Technologies Inc. recently filed its financials for the year ended December 31, 2017. It wasn’t good news – it had a net loss for the year of $9.3 million, up from the previous year’s $8.5 million loss. Its share price has also dropped from a high of $30.50 to $2.56 (March 12, 2018 closing price) and I’m sure investors are getting increasingly nervous.
I know I’ve been a little hard on Aquabounty lately, so I was thinking how I might help them from completely “tanking” (fish pun intended) and it suddenly hit me: Fishy Chips! In fact, my idea has the potential to kill two proverbial genetically-engineered birds (or GE-fish and GE-potatoes) with one stone.
You see, Simplot Inc. is one of the largest private food corporations in the world ( #61 on Forbes America’s Largest Private Corporations List) and is currently facing an amazingly-similar conundrum as Aquabounty. And as we like to say in the brave new world of biotech food creation and marketing, two heads are definitely better than one!
To mix a few metaphors, you could say that the cards are lining up nicely and the stars are all falling into place for this innovative new entrepreneurial start-up idea I came up with. I’m certain if I can get a buy-in from the two companies it will take off big-time and become a phenomenal success. Patents are pending, so I can’t go into too much detail, but I’m far too excited not to share at least some of my initial ideas and blueprints, including a verbatim transcript of part of a meeting I recently had with an Aquabounty Senior executive pitching my idea, which I think went well.
But I want to first offer a bit of background on why my latest brainstorm may very well be the ticket that gets both Aquabounty and Simplot on the fast-track to financial success with their latest GM products, and wins widespread acceptance of their respective genetically-engineered varieties of fish and potatoes from ordinary run-of-the-mill Islanders.
Canada has risked a lot in being the trailblazer (the only country in the world actually) approving both the production AND consumption of genetically-engineered animals. That means there are no longer any regulatory barriers preventing Aquabounty from selling GM fish to Canadians [Fun Fact: Despite being owned by a U.S. company (Intrexon) the United States has so far refused to approve GM fish for sale to Americans, which means we (Islanders and Canadians) will get exclusive access to the GMO launch of Fishy Chips.]
In 2016, Canada approved another new genetically-engineered product from another American-owned corporation, JR Simplot…. a “non-browning” GMO potato called “Innate”. And as luck would have it, Simplot has been growing about 5 acres of Innate “trials” in PEI for the past three years. And Innate will likely be grown commercially in PEI this summer. So with GE Salmon growing to maturity in Rollo Bay, and Innate Potatoes coming on stream soon, the timing couldn’t be better for Fishy Chips.
Simplot’s new potato is especially suited for my fishy chips idea. As Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada explained to a CBC reporter after Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued regulatory approval:
“An issue in the chip wagons and fast food industry and restaurants is that if you want to use potatoes to peel them or cut them you have to do that almost immediately before they’re served or store them in water so that they will not turn brown,” explained MacIsaac. “I’ve talked to some people in the U.S. who have done this. They can actually cut the potatoes the day before, the night before and they’re still very appealing to the consumer, and they look good and taste good.”
But alas! both Simplot and Aquabounty have an obvious image problem with the general public: quite simply, people don’t want to eat their genetically-modified food. When you’re selling food that people don’t want to eat – well, that’s a recipe for disaster for the bottom line.
The good news is that both Simplot and Aquabounty are already half-way to finding a solution, thanks to our Canadian government, because they can sneak their genetically-modified food onto our plates given that the federal government doesn’t require them to label it as genetically-engineered food.
The rationale that both our government and GM companies rely on to trick us into eating GM food makes perfect sense – if you buy into the premise that Canadians are not smart enough to realize that GMOs are good for them. By not having to label GM food, corporations like Simplot and Aquabounty are able to help Canadians eat what’s good for them even though they won’t realize it when they do. It’s a new twist on an old saying, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you!” With no GM labels and stupid Canadians, that axiom now becomes: “What you don’t know will HELP you!”
But now the big problem is with food retailers, who have become a major food-chain bottleneck for the GM corps. Consumers are asking retailers if the food they are selling is genetically-modified (because it doesn’t have to be labelled) and retailers are compelled to answer those questions honestly. The vast majority of the largest food retailers like loblaws and Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys have decided it’s just not worth the hassle and risk – because once they realize they’re GMOs, consumers won’t buy them – so they have announced that they will not be selling genetically-modified fruits, vegetables or fish.
So GM food companies are now shrewdly focusing on selling their GM food to restaurants, hotels, food service companies, etc., places where the people buying the food are not the people eating the food, but are simply the companies preparing the food and serving it to other people. It’s a bit like PEI Chef Michael Smith’s recent endorsement of GM Food while at the same time being careful to advertise and sell only organic food in his own restaurant (See: Chef Michael’s Baffling Endorsement of GMOs)
Some Canadians have already eaten genetically-modified salmon from Aquabounty without realizing it….we just don’t know exactly who, or where the food was cooked, served and eaten. Attempts to find out who consumed nearly 5 tons of GM Salmon sold by Aquabounty in Canada in 2017 have been largely futile; however, since the food was imported from Panama, environmental groups matched federal import records of Salmon coming from Panama (where Aquabounty is currently growing out GE Salmon until it gets its PEI Rollo Bay facility fully up to speed) and were able to narrow the search to Quebec. But Quebec retailers either refused to sell GE Salmon at all, or sold it without labelling it as GE salmon from Panama, so where exactly it ended up, and who ate it, remains a mystery. As the Globe & Mail reported:
” It could have gone anywhere, it could have gone to restaurants or hospitals or universities through food service companies.”
Is this what students eating at the cafeteria at UPEI, or patients at the QEH and other PEI Hospitals have to look forward to? Being spoon-fed GM food without realizing it?
It will be interesting to see if anything has been discussed about the possible sale of GM salmon from the Rollo Bay facility to Island institutions (especially those where the provincial government purchases food) in recent documents between the MacLauchlan government and Aquabounty.
I received a letter regarding my request for Aquabounty records from the provincial Access to Information Office earlier this week, and as you can see, I’ll be getting access to the documents (about 3,000 pages) in another a few weeks. Unless, of course, Aquabounty attempts to block release of that information, which I’m confident they won’t do, now that I’ve come up with this “Fishy Chips” idea, which I’m also pretty sure they’ll be really interested in pursuing:
Breaking Update on Conley Correspondence
I was bang-on about the quick response this time around. After publishing this post, I checked my email and lo and behold, there was this response from Conley:
Ummm….so I guess that means something’s “pending”….or maybe not….but good to know their official policy is not to break the law by failing to comply with regulatory requirements!
[FROM THE TRANSCRIPT OF A RECENT MEETING THAT TOOK PLACE AT AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION]
Me: “uh um….Mr. Conley: With all due respect, I believe Aquabounty is going about selling genetically-engineered fish all wrong by distrusting the public and trying to sneak it onto our dinner plates. People kinda resent being regarded as too stunned to recognize a good thing when it bites them in the face. I believe there’s a far more effective and ethical way to proceed.”
Mr. Conley: “Fascinating…I’m listening!”
Me: “Well, I’ve already come up with what I think is a pretty clever marketing strategy that will bring Aquabounty and Simplot out of the shadows and squarely into public focus. You’re already both playing on our Mighty Island; yet, despite being bona fide members of our friendly, open, diverse and multicultural community, you keep to yourselves far too much, and operate in secret, which only makes the rest of us suspicious about about what you’re really up to. Now that promoting diversity and accepting what we don’t agree with or like (no matter how irrational, weird or offensive) has become a central hallmark of our extremely Liberal culture, I’m guessing you can capitalize on that trend by repeatedly telling us you’re offended that we don’t want to eat your GM food. Over time, that guilt will worm its way into our brains and work to your advantage. And by properly and openly introducing yourselves to Islanders, you’ll be putting an end to rumours, dispelling conspiracy theories, and will finally start getting into the good books with Islanders.”
Me: “Well, like I say, both you and Simplot have so far been operating in secret in PEI, which only fuels suspicion and conspiracy theories. Why don’t you drop the pretense and tell Islanders you fully respect their right to know what they’re eating; but then quickly add that you don’t want them to miss out on a really great thing. Tell them that you’ve teamed up with Simplot and the time has come for a GM “coming out” party, which will be a pre-emptive move which I believe will get both you and Simplot out of the GM-pickle you’re in.
Mr. Conley: “umm…how would that work? I mean…in practical terms?”
Me: The theme for the launch will be: “It’s time to Come Out of the GM Closet” and the public will be invited to participate in a “Fishy Chips Pride Parade” weaving through the streets of downtown Charlottetown. There will be free “Fishy Chips” samples; cool floats; transgenic animal balloons; little bags of “fish-eye” marbles for the kids, etc. And Aquabounty and Simplot can demonstrate to the public that “Fishy Chips” is not only safe but delicious, with little restaurant-themed floats with Aquabounty and Simplot board members dining on yummy fishy chips meals.
Then we launch a chain of “Fishy Chips” food outlets starting in PEI., right at the beginning of tourist season, that would quickly spread across Canada and (if the US or any other country in the world eventually decides to approve GE animals for consumption) to other countries as well.
But this is the flagship slogan that’ll brand this franchise to PEI like the ropes securing lobster boats to the wharfs in Rustico:
“Fishy Chips: Where the fish have more eyes than a PEI potato”
I think the pitch went really well. I think Conley got the message that it’s essentially all about proper messaging. He promised he’d get back to me soon. He’d be crazy not to…..that is, if he wants to turn his company’s financial woes into “wows!” It’s really their only chance to make a go at it….trust Islanders to decide to buy their food knowing what they’re getting upfront.
New Project Spoiler Alert: I’m also currently in talks with Monsanto executives about rebranding their message to help them sell more of their GM corn (with a built-in toxin) to kids. Again, I’m telling them it’s all about embracing the unique features of their GM corn and capitalizing on the success of popular cultural trends and icons like the walking dead. Here’s a mock-up of a movie I’m working on for them. I’ll admit it, the children are a little grotesque-looking – but I can assure you that you and the rest of the audience will walk out of the theatre worshipping those creepy little kids as heros after seeing how they not only used the special powers they got from eating Monsanto’s GM corn to survive a toxic future catastrophe, but courageously go on to employ those same powers to save humanity from complete annihilation…to find out exactly how they do it….well, you’ll have to wait for the movie:
Stills from the soon-to-be released “Children of the Genetically-engineered Corn”


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Amazon has suspended access to Prime Video for subscribers in Russia during the country’s invasion of Ukraine. In a blog post about the announcement, the company also noted that it will no longer accept new AWS customers from Russia and Belarus, as well as third-party Amazon sellers. The company also suspended the shipment of retail products to customers in Russia and Belarus. In addition, the e-commerce giant will no longer accept orders for Novy Mir, the only video game sold directly in Russia.
“Given the current situation in Russia and Ukraine, we have taken additional measures in this area. As a reminder, unlike some other US technology providers, Amazon and AWS do not have data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a longstanding policy of not doing business with the Russian government,” the blog says. After.
Amazon announced last week that AWS is working closely with Ukrainian customers and partners to secure its applications. The company says it is working closely with Ukrainian IT organizations to prevent attacks and is working with organizations in Ukraine to share information in real time.
The announcement comes after Netflix said earlier this week that it was suspending operations in Russia. The move comes after the company said last week it would not comply with a new Russian law that requires streaming companies to host 20 Russian advertising channels. Netflix has stopped production of any future projects in Russia.
Amazon joins a growing number of companies suspending operations in Russia due to the attack on Ukraine. Earlier this week, several companies including PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and others announced they were suspending operations in the country. Last week, an Apple Confirmed that it stopped selling products in Russia. The hardware giant also removed Sputnik and RT News from the App Store and Handicap Few Apple Pay services in the country. Google Following the example of Apple, they removed the Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik apps from the mobile app store. google too has stopped Sale of advertising in Russia.


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A long-simmering feud between tech giants Google and Microsoft Corp. reignited on Friday, in the latest fracture among the country’s tech giants as they face increased regulatory pressure and scrutiny around the world.
The unusual public squabbling, which included Google’s top lawyer saying that Microsoft is criticizing the search giant to distract from its own role in two recent high-profile hacks, came against the backdrop of a Washington, D.C., congressional hearing about the impact of online platforms on the news industry. It is one of several high-profile disputes this year around Silicon Valley, including Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. sparring over privacy-related issues.
Microsoft President Brad Smith discussed Google at length in his prepared remarks at Friday’s hearing, saying that online news is the food that feeds Google’s massive search and advertising network, and suggesting ways the search giant could better support the news industry. He expressed his support for legislation that would give news organizations more bargaining power with Facebook and Google.
Other supporters of the bill include the News Media Alliance, an industry trade group that includes News Corp , publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Just ahead of the hearing, Google’s senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, fired back in a blog post. He defended Google’s support of journalism, asserting that it has paid publishers for links to their work and accused Microsoft of “naked corporate opportunism.”
This content was originally published here.


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Regional news b'casters make hay while the election sun shines
Along with the national news broadcasters, all major parties have also invested significantly in the regional news channels in a bid to reach out to maximum number of potential voters
The Lok Sabha Elections 2014 is reaching its end stage as the country gears for the final verdict on counting day on May 16, 2014. While election time is the busiest time for news broadcasters, given the intense frenzy and interest in the elections this time, advertisers too have joined in droves for maximum traction.
As per industry estimates, prior to the election campaigns, broadcasters were expecting around 20-25 per cent increase in revenues during the election season. However, this increase has exceeded all expectations. More so in the regional space, where political parties as well as brands have been pumping in monies to gain greater visibility.
Commenting on the advertising sentiments, Devendra Pathak, Head of Sales - Retail & Corporate, Hindi and Urdu, ETV said, ”These Lok Sabha Elections have been fantastic; it all started during the Vidhan Sabha Elections, which helped the entire advertising. I would say, it is the best political advertising so far.”
When asked what his expectations are in terms of advertising, Pathak replied, “We were expecting a certain amount of revenues, but we have got more than that. Political parties such as the BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party and others have advertised frequently.”
Along with the national news broadcasters, all major parties have also invested significantly in the regional news channels in a bid to reach out to maximum number of potential voters.
IBC 24 from Chhattisgarh, previously known as Zee Chhattisgarh, is one such regional player that has seen good interest from advertisers during the elections. Speaking to exchange4media, Annurag Aggarwal, VP, IBC 24 said, “The advertising scene has been pretty good even though we are a small and single player in this area. The advertising revenues have exceeded our expectations. We have managed to get good rates and have multiplied our rates to premium.”
He claimed that the channel has seen a hike of around 30 per cent in poll-related revenues.
Aggarwal highlighted that nowadays, the difference between regional and national broadcasters are becoming blurred after a point of time when it comes to election advertising.
Some of the brands advertising on IBC 24 include JK Cement, JK Tyres and other industrial manufacturers.
On the other hand, Vinay Sheshgiri, Head, Kannada Prabha and Suvarna News said that poll-related advertising has “not been really encouraging”.
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CMA gives green light to PayPal, iZettle mega merger
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally cleared PayPal’s $2.2 billion takeover of iZettle, concluding that the merged group would still face “significant competition” from the likes of Worldpay and Square. Its final decision is expected by mid-June.
PayPal bought the Swedish startup last year, but the CMA expressed concerns over the overlap between the two companies, which both provide mobile point of sale (mPOS) devices that enable businesses to take ‘offline’ payments through a card reader connected to a smartphone or tablet. It had referred the deal to a Phase 2 investigation after PayPal failed to offer what it termed "acceptable ways" to address its concerns.
“As iZettle is a relatively recent entrant to payment services, and PayPal had pre-existing plans to invest in its product offering, it has been particularly important for us to verify in detail what could have happened had iZettle not been taken over,” said Kirstin Baker, the inquiry chair.
“While they are two of the main suppliers of mPOS devices, the additional evidence we have analysed indicates that the distinctions between these and ‘traditional’ point of service devices are reducing over time and that large numbers of customers can and do switch to ‘traditional’ point of service devices.”
"We are pleased the CMA has provisionally cleared our transaction," commented Dan Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal. “We look forward to adding iZettle’s products and services to our platform to help small businesses access even more affordable tools to run their shops and compete against the retail giants.”


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This good news comes on the heels of an announcement from Microsoft
Despite these gaming successes, domestic growth has been hard to come by and will not be handed out on a silver platter. GameStop faces some tough competition from the likes of Best Buy
Best Buy announced in July that it plans to court customers into its stores by exchanging old video games for Best Buy gift cards. The second-hand game market has long been GameStop's bread and butter, providing the meatiest gross profits at 46%.
What does this all mean for GameStop going forward?
So far we've seen them be very complacent retiring shares through buybacks. Doing this leaves fewer shares outstanding making year-over-year earnings growth easier to attain. But it fails to address their most pressing need, which is growing revenues in the face of a hiccupping gaming sector.
In order to counter this and stay ahead of Best Buy, GameStop is going to need to step up to the plate and make some sizable acquisitions beyond its recent purchase of Kongregate. The digital delivery gaming market is rapidly growing and GameStop needs to get its foot in the door, otherwise gamers may bypass the brick-and-mortar retailer for point-and-click gaming convenience.
More importantly, GameStop needs to continue to grow its international market share in order to meet its own long-term growth targets.
More on GameStop:


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To the Editor:
Re ''A Pinch of Penicillin Is Nice, a Head of Lettuce Is Better'' (Jan. 5): When a CVS bought out the lease held by an Associated supermarket in my neighborhood, across the street from a Duane Reade and within easy walking distance of several other Duane Reades and Rite-Aids, there was a boycott spread by word of mouth. To my knowledge there was never even a picket line. People just refused to shop there, and the store closed within two years.
The unfortunate consequence of CVS's attempt to push into the neighborhood is that the retail space is now empty and there is no competition for the one high-priced supermarket serving the neighborhood. If those in Whitestone affected by the incursion of CVS are successful in driving them out, they might get back a supermarket in that space.
Greta L. Tedoff
Upper West SideContinue reading the main story


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Trucking and logistics holding company ArcBest Corp. has reported improved third quarter 2014 results, reflecting business growth at ABF Freight and all of its emerging companies, including an ongoing strong performance at Panther Premium Logistics.
ArcBest’s third quarter 2014 revenue was $711.3 million compared to revenue of $623.4 million in the third quarter of 2013, an increase of 14%. Third quarter net income was $19.6 million, or 72 cents per share, compared to $14 million, or 52 cents per share during the same time for the Arkansas-based operation.
At the company’s mainly less-than-truckload carrier, ABF Freight, third quarter revenue was $523.4 million, an 11% increase over the same period last year. Operating income increased to $24.7 million from $17.2 million in third quarter 2013.
According to the company, its Panther Premium Logistics business reported one of its strongest quarters ever while ABF Logistics and ABF Moving also experienced strong gains in operating profit for the quarter.
“During the quarter, ABF Freight benefited from an LTL freight environment that was positively impacted by improving economic trends, tighter industry capacity amid driver shortages, and additional LTL shipments associated with service and demand constraints in other transportation modes,” the company said in a statement. “Though new customers were added, the significant growth ABF Freight experienced during the quarter was strongly impacted by additional shipments from existing customers."
ABF Freight was able to obtain price increases needed to improve operating margins, according to ArcBest, with third quarter total revenue per hundredweight increasing by 3% over last year and improved 2.1% versus this year’s second quarter.
More information is on the ArcBest website.


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Hi-Tech’s ECR subsidiary to market two acquired products
AMITYVILLE, N.Y. — Hi-Tech Pharmacal has acquired marketing and distribution rights for a product designed to treat coughs and upper respiratory symptoms associated with an allergy or a cold.
The generic drug maker said it attained rights for TussiCaps, available in 10-mg/8-mg and 5-mg/4-mg formulations, from Mallinckrodt. Hi-Tech’s ECR Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, which markets branded prescription products, will promote TussiCaps, the only extended-release prescription cough-cold capsule product approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
In related news, Hi-Tech also recently acquired the marketing and distribution rights to an abbreviated new drug application filing from KVK-Tech for an antihistamine/decongestant product — dexbrompheniramine maleate 6-mg/pseudoephedrine sulfate 120-mg extended release tablets — which will be marketed by ECR under the brand name Lodrane.
Walgreens elevating presence in Empire State
NEW YORK — Walgreens has renewed its lease on the ground floor of the Empire State Building, and exchanged 10,000 sq. ft. of retail space on the concourse level to 10,000 sq. ft. on the second floor near the observatory exit elevators, according to a report published by REBusiness Online Thursday.
"The all-glass second-floor store is slated for a first quarter 2012 completion," the report stated. Walgreens’ lease in the Empire State Building is for a 15-year term and totals 18,818 sq. ft.
Alterna ventures into nail fungal solutions under Kerasal foot care brand
WHIPPANY, N.J. — Alterna earlier this week launched Kerasal Nail – Fungal Nail Renewal Treatment, a topical formula clinically proven to improve appearance of nails damaged or discolored by fungus and psoriasis.
In a consumer research study of 500 fungal nail suffers, 77% said they would definitely or probably buy Kerasal Nail after seeing the concept. Alterna has dedicated $5 million in advertising and promotion to launch Kerasal Nail to the U.S. market, with heavy focus on television, print and consumer promotion. The company expects to add at least $10 million of incremental retail sales to the category annually.
An estimated 30 million Americans suffer from unsightly nail appearance, a market currently underserved by nonprescription products. Kerasal Nail’s unique nail-penetrating formula has been licensed exclusively for the U.S. market from Moberg Derma, a Swedish pharmaceutical company. The product already is the No. 1 seller in various European countries where it launched last year, Alterna reported.
In the most recent clinical study, more than 90% of users saw improvement in nail appearance after eight weeks, and more than 75% saw improvement in appearance in just two weeks of use.
Kerasal Nail’s patented formula combines the keratolyctic, nail softening and hydrating effects of propylene glycol, urea and lactic acid to deeply penetrate the nail and restore healthy appearance by normalizing thickened nails, reducing nail discoloration and hydrating brittle nails. Kerasal Nail is odorless and preservative free.
The product will be found on store shelves in the foot care aisles in major Walmart stores and Rite Aid stores this fall.


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- New Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin video debuts Forlorn NPC
- LA Cops hitting the virtual streets on March 13 for PC, Xbox One
- Rockstar releases 15 new screens from Grand Theft Auto V for PC
- Hexer conjures up new trailer, screens from Etrian Mystery Dungeon
- Nordic Games to assist in physical distribution of Shadowrun Online
Fancy A Date?
Developer- and Publisher-specific Articles: Anime
NIS has given up the goods to Bleach fans today with the unveiling of the official box art for the upcoming PS3 release, Bleach: Soul Resurrección. Fans of the Viz Media series can look forward to taking control of one of the 21 playable characters in a free-roaming action-adventure stacked with multiple modes, a robust leveling system, and more when Soul Resurrección hits store shelves this August.


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Ban temporary lifted: Galaxy Nexus available again, but only until Apple responds
A U.S. appeals court has temporarily lifted the ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The smartphone is now available again directly from Google via its Play Store. However, the reprieve might be short lived, as the court said the stay on the injunction will remain only while it considers Apple’s arguments. The court gave Apple until July 12th to respond.
This latest decision is part of a bitter battle between Apple and Samsung (and indirectly Google) which started in 2010 when Apple started suing Samsung for “slavishly” copying the iPhone; naturally Samsung counter-sued, and so a war began. As part of the conflict, each company is digging deep into its patent treasure chest and is accusing the other of violating its patents.
Initially, Google was a partner of Apple and provided different Internet services for Apple’s iOS devices. These included maps and setting Google as the default search engine for Safari. However, Apple didn’t appreciate (to say the least) Google’s move into the mobile operating system sector and its development of Android. Since then, the two companies have been drifting apart. Apple recently released its own mapping technology for iOS 6, which doesn’t rely on Google’s technologies.
The story is similar with Samsung. A large number of the components needed to make the iPhone and iPad come from Samsung, most notably the flash memory and RAM. Apple spends billions of dollar every year with Samsung, and yet the two are embroiled in a bitter battle. Riding on its bad feelings for Google, Apple sees Samsung’s success with its mobile phones as copycat work by the Korean company.
Although the war is actually about the bad blood between Apple, Samsung and Google, this particular battle is about the ‘quick search’ functionality of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which shows results for applications on the phone, contacts in the address book, as well as results from the Internet. This unified search is something Apple claims it invented and it has a patent to prove it.
Google is working hard in the background to prepare Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for the Nexus, which will contain a workaround removing the search functionality that Apple claims is covered by its patents.
At the same time as issuing the temporary reprieve for the Galaxy Nexus, the court did however uphold the decision to ban sales of Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet.


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Freemarket ranked #12 in The Sunday Times 100 2022
On Friday 1 July, Freemarket earned its place in the inaugural The Sunday Times 100 Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, coming in at an impressive number 12! With only 4 payments companies in the top 100, this achievement is no mean feat.
The Sunday Times 100 is a set to be a prestigious annual ranking of Britain’s fastest growing private companies. The league table takes on the baton from The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 series, which celebrated the country’s leading entrepreneurs for 24 years. The 2022 league table is supported by Barclays Private Bank and DHL Express.
To qualify, businesses needed four years of accounts, with sales growth measured by compound annual growth rate over the last three financial years – full criteria can be found here. The Sunday Times reads: “The companies in this list can rightly see themselves as growth heroes. In total the 100 grew revenues by £3.8 billion.”
Freemarket’s CEO and Founder, Alex Hunn, said: “We are focused on delivering the best optimised cross-border payments and currency exchange service to our customers. To be recognised in 2022’s Sunday Times inaugural 100 rankings for Britain’s fastest growing private companies in the payments space is a great achievement and milestone in our journey.”.
Founded in 2016, Freemarket has grown to over 50 employees and has achieved a record sales growth of 156.85% over the last three years. The increase in revenue is a real testament to our focus on innovation, strong leadership and listening to our customers and providing them with a best-in-class service for cross-border payments and FX – we believe it’s this combination that makes us stand out from the crowd.
We serve businesses globally with our cash management and FX solution. And, are among the first to use matching technology to achieve better rates than offered by the banking sector.
Ultimately, we aggregate Tier 1 banks and local payment rails within a single ecosystem, providing our customers with a single point of access for banking and payment solutions – consolidating costs, increasing productivity, and moving 40+ currencies in over 100+ countries. Our clients can manage global liquidity, consistent FX rates and real-time prices through a single API integration and platform.
A big congratulations to the Freemarket team for all their hard work that contributed to reaching this fantastic milestone and of course thanks to our customers – we’re excited to see what the future holds. You can find out more about Freemarket’s unique offering by watching our short explainer video.


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- Legal States
Jerome García October 18, 2022 3 min read
EvenBet Identifies Gambling Trends and Priorities in a New Report
EvenBet Gaming, a leading software solutions provider for online businesses, released a new report, outlining some of the biggest trends and priorities for gambling operators and vendors within the industry.
EvenBet Gaming Releases New White Paper
The recent report, called the Hottest iGaming Trends, reveals trends and challenges identified by EvenBet Gaming’s content and marketing team via discussions with partners and operators during different events. The company compiled the answers into a report and vowed that this will not be the only such edition. Instead, EvenBet said that the white paper will undergo an update near the end of the year.
A key trend identified by respondents in the recent white paper for the third quarter of 2022 was crypto. Cryptocurrency, crypto payment options and other crypto-related topics were identified as the most mentioned iGaming trend in Q3 2022 by participants in the white paper. According to the recent report, the “global crypto population” hit nearly 300 million as of December 2021, marking a staggering increase of 178%.
Additionally, EvenBet’s white paper identified that the crypto growth continues further this year. Service providers and vendors mentioned crypto more than operators. At the same time, the study identified that although the gambling industry is adaptive, banking has increasingly become more difficult.
“Maybe, the crypto will be going to save the industry in a few years,“reads the recent white paper
Growth Remains a Key Priority for iGaming Companies
Although crypto was identified as a trend, it wasn’t a priority for the respondents that participate in the white paper. Growth within new markets, as well as expanding presence within existing markets were identified as main priorities for operators and vendors within the industry.
“Regulated markets are the future, but regulation delays innovation because we have to look at the different demands,“explains the white paper
While growth was identified as a priority, the second-most mentioned trend was the increasing regulation within different jurisdictions. Both operators and vendors identified this trend as increasingly important. With that in mind, the report pointed out that while regulation is important, it can delay innovation.
“Everybody is looking out of Europe,“reads EvenBet’s white paper
Focusing on growth and expansion to new jurisdictions, participants in the latest report identified Europe as the least desired location. Vendors as well as operators pointed out that the markets that hold significant iGaming growth potential are Asia, Latin America, as well as North America, “but almost never Europe.”


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Rumours that Apple would be partnering with LG to produce a 55-inch OLED television have been dealt a blow after sources close to the matter said that the chances that Apple would incorporate the more advanced technology in its screens are “currently very low”, Korea Times reports.
Reports have suggest that Apple has turned its focus to the television market, providing a device that would possibly allow users to stream music, videos and TV shows via its iTunes platform, but Apple is currently unsure of OLED technology due to its higher cost and related issues with large-sized OLED displays.
Limited life span, color balance-related issues, an efficiency of blue OLED vital for the success of OLED replacing LED and screen burn-in are regarded the headaches, making Apple hesitate to use the displays on Apple TV.
The sources claimed Apple may use picture quality-enhanced and tech-sharpened LCD displays for its televisions, as there are minor differences between OLEDs and LCDs at least to general consumers who don’t have much knowledge of displays.
Apple has a track record of utilising high-quality, proven technologies in its devices, so a move to a display technology that has not yet received full backing of the television industry would understandably leave the Cupertino-based company worried.
With the possibility of using OLED screens in its iPhone and iPad devices, Apple has again steered away from the technology, using picture quality-enhanced LCD screens in its next-generation iPad, with the next iPhone will follow suit.
A top-level executive predicts Apple will move to OLED displays in “three to four years”, when the technology is much more established.


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NEW YORK (CNNfn) America's merger-machine is picking up steam and is running into relatively few roadblocks.
Federal regulators reviewed about three times the number of mergers last year as five years ago, but are still blocking only a tiny percentage. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have tried to stop just seven mergers since 1995.
"The chances, in essence, are less than one in a thousand," said Steven Sunshine, an antitrust attorney at Shearman & Sterling. "Almost 6,000 mergers a year get filed before the antitrust division in the Federal Trade Commission. Of those in the last couple years, less than a handful have been stopped in their entirety."
Only a few of those mergers were headline deals. On Monday, the FTC rejected a bid by Staples to take over Office Depot. The government also stopped a proposed merger between Rite Aid and Revco drug chains and short-circuited Microsoft's purchase of Intuit. A handful of hospital combinations were blocked as well.
Experts say for the past 15 years or so, the government's strategy has been to fix a merger first and try to compromise, before heading to court.
"An awful lot of negotiation occurs ahead of time, and in the overwhelming number of cases either there is no problem to begin with, or the problem gets settled through negotiation or an agreement that a certain number of stores or branches get sold off," said Professor Lawrence White, an economist at NYU's Stern School.
Regulators say they take a hard line when they feel a merger will cause customers to pay higher prices. But it is more often than not a deal-breaker -- once the approval battle moves from the back room into the courtroom.


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The commuter consumer is a very real phenomenon that is on the rise. A quick look at the latest edition of the PYMNTS Digital Drive report shows that commuting is a $230 billion connected commerce experience.
Driving all that commerce is connection: 73 percent of commuters said they connected to the internet while driving, adding up to about 99 million people. And those 99 million are leveraging those connections to all sorts of ends while they are on the road.
About half — or 47.2 percent — of commuters used their connectivity during their commutes in the past week to find a gas station. Over one third — or 35.3 percent — used it in the past week to order food and pick it up at a drive-thru. A little over 30 percent used their connectivity to order coffee to be picked up at a drive-thru, while 14.5 percent ordered groceries on the go for pickup.
And that’s just today: The latest edition of the PYMNTS/Visa How We Will Pay Report strongly indicates that the trend still has a long way to grow. Connected consumers will likely be a group that is no longer called out as separate from consumers in general – because increasingly, all consumers are connected consumers.
And those consumers are more than connected: They are also highly enthused to leverage those connections into seamless commerce experiences in a variety of contexts, with the car being an area of specific interest.
Given the demand, the revenue already up for grabs and the potential for some truly impressive gains in the not-too-distant future, it is not too surprising that the biggest names in tech and automotive are lining up to nab top position when it comes to making the right connected car offerings.
And this week at CES, the auto offerings were coming out fast and furious.
Visa and SiriusXM Pair to Bring Commerce to Cars
SiriusXM Connected Vehicles Services have officially announced that they will partner with Visa to offer the SiriusXM eWallet to auto manufacturers that deploy SiriusXM’s connected-vehicle services. The new system will allow drivers and passengers with Visa accounts to shop and pay directly from the road for things like coffee, gas, parking, movie tickets and tolls. Payments will be activated and authenticated using biometric authentication, like voice and touchscreen commands, to eliminate driver distractions during the transaction.
The wallet runs on the Visa Token Service to protect data security, and on the Visa and SiriusXM APIs.
“Our work with Visa is a significant step in establishing the next generation of vehicle-to-everything connectivity, transforming the vehicle into a ‘hub’ that provides for real-time, convenient transactional services to drivers and passengers,” said John Jasper, senior vice president at SiriusXM Connected Vehicle Services.
To implement these services, SiriusXM is developing new protocols to establish real-time connectivity and in-vehicle interfaces with a broad variety of personalized content and data aggregated from a network of platforms. Visa, meanwhile, will be establishing virtual payment relationships through its network of retailers and providing secure authentication capabilities.
The suite of services will be showcased to automobile manufacturers during 2019. So far, neither Visa nor SiriusXM have offered any guidance on when the service might go live.
"Teaming up with SiriusXM is a big step forward in Visa's quest for connected commerce across the automotive ecosystem,” said Olabisi Boyle, vice president of IoT platforms. “SiriusXM's solid network with automotive manufacturers and established consumer interfaces, combined with our payment expertise, will help fast-track the endless opportunities for drivers to safely and securely accomplish tasks during their commute."
Honda Expands in-Vehicle Commerce Capabilities
Visa and Sirius were far from alone in pushing their early vision for car-based commerce in early 2019. Honda is currently demoing a line of connected cars at CES that will not only let drivers transact as they motor around, but also be rewarded for their purchases.
The Dream Drive prototype doesn’t just offer connected capacity, but also a dashboard that rewards drivers and passengers. Consumers earn points for using the connected dashboard to do things like pay for gas, food or movie tickets, or for using the cars navigation system to reach the next stop on their agenda. Said points can then be applied toward discounts or freebies from retailers.
Consumers, when they use the program, must opt into allowing Honda to share their data with its (as yet unnamed) partner retailers.
“We want to provide a better window into how to serve our customer through that data,” said John Moon, managing director of strategic partnerships at Honda. “It’s something retailers don’t get to see — that ‘last mile’ to their retail destination. The majority of commerce is done through physical retail locations, and because we’re able to tie that to transactions, we’re able to provide some rich information.”
The prototype is on display now, but Honda has some plans for deployment, having announced that it intends to begin rolling out the new connectivity and reward systems in the Honda Odyssey (its minivan line) next year.
In addition to the Dream Drive prototype, Honda announced last week that it will partner with Alibaba to offer online services to drivers in China.
And Honda isn’t the only big automotive name looking closely at the Chinese market as it rolls out its commerce-centric connected car efforts.
BMW’s Big Partnership With Tmall
BMW Group in China has announced that Alibaba’s Tmall Genie will launch in select vehicles by the end of this year. The integration, according to the firms, will give drivers access to in-car entertainment and shopping options while on the road.
“As Chinese consumers have come to expect a seamless, digital experience both at home and at brick-and-mortar retail spaces, they should expect the same experience in their car,” said Dieter May, senior vice president of digital services and products at BMW Group. “With the integration of Alibaba’s Tmall Genie in BMW vehicles in China, we are adding a digital ecosystem, which will open up new possibilities that customers can access quickly and safely from the car.”
The latest announcement comes as an expansion of last year’s integration of “BMW Connected,” the German automaker’s connected car app, with Tmall Genie, which allowed customers to remotely monitor their cars (windows and lights, for example) via Tmall Genie. The new system will enable them to operate vehicle functions through the in-car Tmall Genie.
“We launched the ‘AI+Car’ solution last year to provide a more intelligent and connected experience for Chinese car users through Tmall Genie’s AI-powered voice interaction and service capabilities for cars,” said Alibaba Group Vice President Miffy Chen, who serves as general manager of Alibaba A.I. Labs. “Among our collaboration with premium automakers, we are very glad that BMW will be the first premium auto brand to bring selected car models that fully integrate Tmall Genie to the China market.”
BMW may be the first full integration, but it is one of many international automakers trying to capture the mobile payment-friendly Chinese market. Volvo, Daimler and Audi have also built in integrations to some extent over the last year.
Echo Auto Pulls into the Lane
The world was first introduced to the Echo Auto last September as one of a slew of new Alexa-powered devices. But the eight-microphoned device, which pairs with a user’s phone to bring Alexa to their ride, is now on sale and available – to a selected few, anyway.
According to reports, the Echo Auto started shipping a few weeks ago to a "small" group of customers, who also got it at the sale price of $24.99. It will be on sale to the general public later in 2019 for $49.99.
"Demand is through the roof," VP of Alexa Auto Ned Curic told media, noting that there have already been one million requests for the car assistant, which is designed to let consumers use voice commands to control their music, navigation, podcasts, eBooks, smart home appliances and more while on the road.
The device works with third-party apps like Google Maps and music options like Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM and NPR, with Apple Maps and Apple Music expected to be coming soon. It doesn't work with in-car infotainment platforms like Apple's CarPlay or Android Auto, however.
Some brands – including BMW, Ford, Audi and Toyota – have direct integration between Alexa and their infotainment systems. But for those who are not willing to upgrade the whole car to tie in with Alexa on the road, there is a much more cost-effective option.
Who will be the winner in an increasingly crowded field? The second week of 2019 is still probably a bit early to call it. But it seems the race will be swift, as consumers will soon start getting used to talking to one voice or another while they are on the road – not to mention counting on a bunch of expanding commerce capabilities to make the ride go more smoothly.


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With bars now officially open around New Zealand, are Kiwis heading out for a drink with friends, or are we happy to stay home?
According to a report by the IWSR, consumers globally are still proceeding with caution and the industry, especially the on-premise, will need to keep in mind that consumers are not guaranteed to revert to their pre-crisis behaviour.
The IWSR says that in China, one of the first countries to ease restrictions, there are signs that it has not been met with overwhelming enthusiasm, and consumers have been slow to return to restaurants and bars.
Callum O’Brien, owner of Saint Alice in Auckland’s Viaduct, says that one of the biggest issues following the pandemic in New Zealand is that consumers are going to be much more careful about their spending and it’s essential for bars to stand out from the crowd.
“Service and product are going to be key in this time more than ever,” he says. “As people become more cautious with spending, hospitality is going to have to really strive to make the experience customers have exceptional.”
O’Brien says they call it the ‘experience gap’. “It’s the gap between buying a beer for $10 in a bar, and buying the same beer for $2 at the supermarket and drinking it at home,” he says.
“People are excited about home cooking now after spending so much time practicing during the lockdown, and beer/wine is so cheap in liquor stores and supermarkets, so we as hospitality operators need to do as much as possible to make the experience something they can’t get at home.”
O’Brien says at Saint Alice they close the gap by offering DJs playing their own vinyl collections most evenings, and a stunning view of Auckland harbour. “And really focusing on exceptional service and treatment of our customers,” he says.
Plus, during lockdown, Saint Alice had a refit to “encourage social occasions to still happen here, whilst being sensitive to the rules around distancing”.
“We have moved a few walls and opened our space up a lot to provide a more spacious and free-flowing area,” says O’Brien. “A few tables have been removed to give more space between groups. All of the tables here now can fit 6-10 people on them so we can cater to different sized groups easily whilst keeping them apart.”
But while the distance and single server rules can make the lives of bar staff extra-hectic, O’Brien is confident that Kiwis will quickly adapt to the new way of socialising.
“Personally I believe that humans in general are very good at adapting and changing to different environments – we saw how quickly the whole country adapted to being in lockdown and how quickly it became the norm,” he says.
“I think and hope this will happen going the other way too – if we can keep the virus out now hopefully we can start to rebuild people’s confidence in socialising and get the economy moving again.
“I hope that hand shakes and hugs are not too far away from being the norm again!”
For more tips on how to draw in customers to your bar and keep them entertained while seated, click here.
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From Coachella to Pinky’s Bar, Alex Rodriguez’s safari record never ends
Vinyl records aren’t going anywhere, and it’s quite possible that COVID-19 has helped solidify their stamina forever. Or so thinks Alex Rodriguez, DJ booker at the Los Feliz hotspot called Pinky’s and co-owner of Record Safari in Los Feliz; and he should know. The Los Angeles-born, Bakersfield-raised music obsessive, who also happens to be the head curator of the massive Coachella vinyl record store, has worked in music most of his life, from DJing in two parts from California to running vintage shops in Bakersfield, to managing venues including the Glasshouse record store in Pomona. While the pandemic has proven difficult for retail spaces, especially small businesses, he says the record business was not one of them.
“During lockdown I think people were looking for things to do at home, and like bars, restaurants, music events, sporting events, all of that was closed, the only thing that was really open was the business of detail,” he said. “And I mean, how many times can you go to Target? You’re going to get bored and it’s always the same thing. But places like record stores, and like any collectible, every time you go there, there’s always different things to look at, so I think that kind of crafted collectibles in general, whether it’s comics or toys or records or antiques, it gave people something They could go to these types of stores and see different things each time and buy different things. gave something to do.
“I thought he was going to die once everything was reopened,” he continues. “I thought the crazy sales and resurgence was going to drop once people were able to travel again and go out to eat and go to bars and see concerts again. But this is not the case. I think a lot of people have become addicted to buying records. It’s definitely addictive…collecting anything is.
Rodriguez, who was born in the San Fernando Valley, is blessed with the opportunity to nurture his own addiction and help others satisfy theirs via new record store Atwater (which opened in July 2021 and features Paul Tollett from Goldenvoice as owner) and the Coachella retail project, both of which allow him to travel across the country in search of rare vinyl. There was even a documentary, also called Save Safari, fact of his travels and conservation.
Although he was immersed in daily record crate digging, Rodriguez’s music nerdom didn’t start with a turntable. He cites MTV as his initial inspiration, particularly artists who played metal and hard rock, and he remembers, like many of us, creating mix tapes of songs on the radio through an old boombox. For older DJs, it was a way to learn how to build playlists and create vibe and flow through track selection. For Rodriguez, genres were everywhere and his tastes remained eclectic.
He started deejaying in 1999 in Los Angeles and Bakersfield and moved here full-time in 2013. Playing music for others in public spaces, as this writer has attempted a few times, is an expressive enterprise. It’s about reading a piece and connecting, reflecting the energy, and then taking it to a new place. Rodriguez has won fans all over town for doing just that. But even before the pandemic, he decided to slow down. “There are so many new DJs now, it’s like letting the kids have fun that night, not a guy who’s been deejaying for 20 years in LA,” he says of booking others.
After filming at Peanutbutter Wolf’s Gold Line in Highland Park, a bartender there who also worked at Pinky’s recommended him for turntable filling work. Pinky’s opened in fall 2019 and was forced to close due to COVID during the height of the hipster heat, reopening in fall 2021, nearly two years later. It’s picked up right where it left off, and currently, it’s filled with buzzing scenes and notable names behind the decks every night, including Johnny Jewel & Desire (of Italians do better), Alex Nicolaou of dull majesty, and Rose knows. The sounds are complemented by a new bar schedule via beverage director Aly Iwamoto, a Los Angeles native who has worked at The Varnish, Bavel, Death & Co and Thunderbolt.
“DJs are all capable of doing whatever they want,” Rodriguez says of Pinky’s sound selectors. “Most of the genres that are played in the room are funk, soul, disco, a bit of New Wave or house, electronic stuff and hip hop. We don’t really rock too much because it doesn’t really fit the vibe, more of a more danceable stuff.
There’s no designated dance floor at Pinky’s, but when we went there just before the pandemic hit, famed mixmaster Cut Chemist made an appearance on the decks and people were definitely moving and grooveing. There’s a patio courtyard just outside the bar (opposite the Atrium Restaurant, which shares the same owners) and music plays outside, where crowds gather on warmer evenings. While Pinky was vinyl-only, Rodriguez says it’s expanded into all formats since the pandemic, opening up the sonic reach of the space.
As for what to expect on any given night, Rodriguez says the mood is constantly changing. “I try to bring in different DJs to keep it fresh and try to make sure it’s always different. So, you know, if you show up on a Thursday, three weeks in a row, you’ll hear different music.
Speaking of diversity, he takes the same approach to stocking the Coachella record store, with artists playing at the festival, of course, but also new and old, popular and obscure, used and new records of all genres. He became involved with the Indio festival after doing it with Glasshouse, and later became a permanent member of the festival team. With the second weekend falling on Record Store Day, hiring Rodriguez proved easier than trying to work with individual record stores like Amoeba, which have their hands full of collectors on weekends like this. .
For Record Store Day (April 23), Rodriguez says he ordered “one to three copies of everything” for Coachella and his own store. But “just because you order doesn’t mean you’ll get everything”, and as anyone who’s tried to get a limited release during the annual collector’s “holiday” knows, scoring some of the best drops isn’t easy. He’s been stocking the polo ground store since 2014 and he says sales have been steady, with the most popular hip-hop and pop artists in recent years, a fact that definitely reflects the festival’s pivot to pop music bookings. -Z.
Older festival-goers might miss this musical shift, but the record store encourages youngsters to check out vinyl, at least. The store also makes it easier by offering a locker system where customers pay eight dollars (which also gets them a Coachella tote) and a hold on purchases until the party is over. Prices range from $2 to “several hundred” for collectible titles.
“I’ve been buying records since 1994 and I’ve certainly seen their popularity go up and down a number of times,” says Rodriguez, who deserves credit for helping to keep them fresh, through everything he does. , including sharing great album covers and rare finds on Instagram. “It’s probably the longest stretch so far, and it just keeps going up.”
Pinky’s, 1816 N Vermont Avenue. (323) 763-0351. pinkyslosfeliz.com/
Save Safari, 3222 Los Feliz Blvd.. (323) 928-2290. instagram.com/recordsafari_la/


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Temperatures may still be in the high 70s and lower 80s, but according to the calendar, it is fall.
And the Landings is celebrating the season with two events 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday.
Carmen Johnston, founder of Nectar & Co. in Thomaston, Ga., will demonstrate tips on seasonal displays and how to make a container garden. She'll be at the Landings throughout the day.
Then dress up your dogs in their best costumes for the Howl-o-Ween Pups on Parade at 10 a.m. Prizes will be rewarded and every dog will receive a trick or treat bag.
It's all free.
And don't forget all the fall vegetables, fruits, jam and jellies, homemade cakes, paintings and jewelry on display and for sale. There are also plenty of children's activities as well, including hayrides.
The scarecrows in the Scarecrow Contest will be on display starting Saturday as well.
Call Lucy Jones at 706-256-4814.


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The box counters at IDC and Gartner have already given out their report cards for server sales and shipments in the fourth quarter and for the full year on a global basis, which El Reg has dutifully reported and analyzed. Just for fun, and perhaps to show us all what a real server market looks like, Gartner put out a set of …
"make like a tiger"
Anyone else thinking the "that beats doing Frosties ads" vid?
Devil Steve because it involves jobs with a horn...
- Ex-HP boss Carly Fiorina sacked one week into new job
- Monster Cloud and an angry customer wanting a refund: A Love Story
- Analysis Intel has driven a dagger through Microsoft's mobile strategy
- Old, complex code could cause another UK banking TITSUP – study
- Ireland's tech sector fears fallout of Brexit 'Yes' vote


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Various initiatives taken by MSME Minstry for the upliftment of MSMEs in 2016 includes key decision to create Indian Enterprises Development Service (IEDS) along with other measures such as foundation laying ceremony of MSME Technology Centre at Greater Noida, MSME EXPO 2016.
NEW DELHI: In an official release, the Ministry informed that Cabinet has approved creation of IEDS in the Office of Development Commissioner (MSME) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
The creation of the new cadre and change in structure will not only strengthen the organization but will also help to achieve the vision of “Startup India”, “Stand-up India” and “Make in India”.
Further, the Ministry informed about the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of MSME Technology Centre at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh under Technology Centre Systems Programme (TCSP) & National Vendor Development Programme
This Technology Centre is one of the 15 new Technology Centres that are being established in the country by Ministry of MSME.
This Centre will provide support to Electronics Systems Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) and automotive electronics sector particularly MSMEs towards their technological and skilled manpower requirements.
The Programme would be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,200 crore including World Bank loan assistance of US $ 200 million. For the Technology Centre, Greater Noida, Government of India would be investing more than Rs.145 crore for creating facilities towards plant & machinery, development of civil and associate infrastructure.
The MSME Ministry also organized MSME EXPO 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. MSME Expo 2016 was organized by Ministry of MSME in the 36th IITF 2016. Over 80 enterprises have showcased their range of products during the trade fair.
The theme of the fair was “Quality Manufacturing and Inclusive Growth of MSMEs” which includes Zero Defect, Zero Effect (ZED) Certification Scheme, SC/ST Hub & National Award.
The National SC/ST Hub was also launched on 8th October 2016 in Ludhiana by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ministry of MSME has made an initial allotment of allocation of Rs. 490 crore for the period 2016-2020 for the National SC/ST Hub. The Hub would primarily aid in strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry best practices etc. The hub would operate from National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Headquarters in Delhi, supported by a special cell created for this purpose.
The public procurement order mandates 4% annual procurement by Central Ministries/ Departments and Public Sector Undertakings from SC/ST enterprises w.e.f 01.04.2015. It has been reported that at present the Government of India procurement form SC/ST enterprises in less than 1% due to low participation of the community. This needs to be scaled up to meet the procurement target for SC/ST.
In the past, there has been some increase in the number of SC/ST owned enterprises but this number needs to increase substantially to enable the socio-economic empowerment of SC/ST communities. In this direction, the National SC/ST Hub in an initiative of the Government of India targeted towards developing a supportive ecosystem towards SC/ST entrepreneurs.
The Ministry also initiated formation of MSME Databank and Finance Facilitation Launched at 14th Meeting of National Board .
The objective of the databank is to have one-stop source of information of MSMEs of India, including their credit and technology, requirement in terms of raw material and marketing, etc. A decision has also been taken that no grant or subsidy will be given to any MSMEs unless the data is captured on the MSME Databank.
To boost Khadi, a Giant Charkha unveiled at IGI Airport, Delhi which 42 carpenters from Ahmedabad built the Charkha in 55 days.
An incubation cell was launched at IIFT Delhi to enable young entrepreneurs to get all the expert advice and technical guidance at one point. The cell has been designed to provide export start-ups with necessary hand holding support towards expanding their existing domestic business to foreign markets, he added
The initiative is named as “KITTES (Knowledge for Innovation in Trade & Technology for Entrepreneurial Start-ups), a dynamic business incubation cell dedicated to startups in the domain of international business. Run by the Centre of MSME Studies at IIFT (Delhi), the aim of KITTES is to provide hand holding support for MSME start-ups right from ideation stage to their internationalization towards taking a final leap into foreign markets.


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As giveaways have proliferated, so have the attempts by companies to make theirs stand out from the crowd. Some contests would indeed be hard to replicate. Here are some examples. *Philip Morris for the past 3 years has awarded a series of prizes in a sweepstakes to promote its Benson & Hedges 100's cigarettes. The prizes are always in the 100's -- 100 pounds of frog's legs, 100 hours at the Vienna Opera, 100 mutual fund shares, and a 100-inch mink coat, to name a few. *Showtime/The Move Channel, trying to attract viewers to a concert it was running, gave away Barry Manilow's piano. Joanne Black, Showtime's senior vice president of marketing, said the game was ''a smash,'' with more than 100,000 viewers sending in entries. *In the murder-mystery book, ''Who Killed the Robins Family?'' readers were asked to solve the crime. The reader who provided the best solution won $10,000 in cash. What was a run-of-the-mill whodunit ended up selling 300,000 hardcover copies at $9.95 each and was on the best-seller list for 36 weeks. *When Ted Turner was starting Cable News Network, he ran a sweepstakes to entice cable operators to buy his program. The prize was a day on Mr. Turner's yacht, Tenacious, watching Mr. Turner race his other yacht, Corageous, in the America's Cup trials.
The push for uniqueness is rooted in marketing necessity. When companies can too easily match a competitor's promotion, no one wins. United Airlines, for example, was the first carrier to hand out ''Take-Off'' sweepstakes cards on flights. The grand prize was a free round-trip first-class ticket to anywhere in the world that United flew. Within days, other airlines introduced identical contests, and the 4 percent increase in ticket sales United had enjoyed from the promotion evaporated.
Their are other pitfalls, too. For one thing, the contest can overshadow the product. When the General Motors Corporation ran its first sweepstakes a couple of years ago -- a $4 million matching card game designed to draw people into its showrooms -- it experienced a decline in sales. ''We were trying to generate traffic, and we did that,'' said Harold C. L. Jackson Jr., G. M.'s manager of publicity. But he acknowledged that people apparently came in to see if they had a winning card, not to buy cars. G. M. has not run a contest since.
The costs of the contests can vary from about $25,000 to several million dollars. But, because the prizes are set at the outset, the costs are more easily budgeted than, say, a cents-off coupon promotion. Moreover, while a $1 milion cash prize may seem substantial to a consumer, it is often ''a drop in the bucket'' to large companies that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 30-second spot on prime time television, said Don Jacoda, president of Don Jacoda Associates, a contest firm in Syosset, L.I.
Perhaps that is why companies are loath to abandon contests, even when they stop working. When Philip Morris Inc. introduced the Benson & Hedges 100's sweepstakes in 1970, the product saw an immediate jump in market share. But although the contest this year drew more than five million entries -- and a response of 200,000 is considered sizable in the sweepstakes world -- sales of the cigarettes have fallen.
Still, Phililp Morris will continue the contest. As Thomas Kelm, director of marketing communications put it, ''Whose to say we wouldn't have lost more market share without it?''Continue reading the main story


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Warsaw slams law to regulate outdoor advertising as toothless
PR dla Zagranicy
The new law to rein in rampant outdoor advertising that ruins much of the visual attraction of Polish cities is disappointing and sure to prove toothless, Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz of Warsaw said.
They're here to stay. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
“We are very, very disappointed indeed with what has happened in parliament,” Gronkiewicz-Waltz said. “The law has had all its teeth knocked out and what remains is not worth the paper it is printed on.”
The mayor of Warsaw called for higher penalties for illegal outdoor advertising, saying the maximum fine of PLN 5,000 is inadequate, when a large banner in the centre of Warsaw can bring in over PLN 100,000 a month. (an)


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|Marcus & Millichap – Key Takeaways:|
|Headline inflation increased to 5.4% in June, the highest level since the summer of 2008. |
Reopening of service sectors such as air travel, hotels, recreation and entertainment contributed to the rise.
Labor shortages are putting upward pressure on wages, particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industries.
Increased demand along with supply-chain bottlenecks and higher shipping costs are impacting goods prices, including construction materials.
Many of the inflation drivers are likely to be transitory, keeping Fed stance largely accommodative.


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Did you miss a session from GamesBeat Summit Next 2022? All sessions are now available for viewing in our on-demand library. Click here to start watching.
Samsung is likely to produce 100,000 of the smartphone-cum-tablets in the third quarter, the Herald claims, while LG may manufacture the same quantity in the fourth quarter. The report cautions that neither company has finalized its plans yet.
Most of the report focuses on the Samsung device, likely the same product revealed last year under the codename Project Valley. While the device was initially designed to open like a book with both screens inside, according to the Herald, Samsung decided that consumers don’t want to constantly be opening and closing their phones, and thus moved the displays to the outside of the unit, when closed.
The device will reportedly be a seven-inch tablet when open.
Bloomberg reported last spring that Samsung might unveil its first foldable device as early as next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, but that timetable looks to have slipped, if this latest report is accurate.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.


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The significant rise in lifestyle-related diseases and the developments in healthcare infrastructure are expected to influence the demand for pharmaceuticals in Saudi Arabia. In 2016, the Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market is anticipated to procure value worth US$ 5,209.5 Mn at a y-o-y growth of 6.0 % over 2015. The mounting demand for branded drug products will continue to incite the growth of the Saudi Arabian pharmaceutical market in 2016.
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The demand for pharmaceuticals in Saudi Arabia is expected to register substantial growth owing to the increasing penetration of health insurance companies and the rising incidence rate of non-communicable diseases. Furthermore, the exceptional rise in the per capita income of Saudi Arabia is also expected to foster the demand for branded pharmaceutical drugs. Another key factor driving the growth of the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is the country’s strategic move to allow 100% FDI in the pharmaceuticals sector. Although, the shortage of profound indigenous research capacity in the pharmaceutical industry and the delayed registration of drug and medicine patents is expected to limit the expansion of the market in 2016 and beyond.
Based on the product type, the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is expected to witness an upsurge in the prescription-type branded drug products. In terms of market value, the branded drugs are estimated to reach US$ 2,760.8 Mn by 2016-end. The demand for generic drugs is projected to secure steady growth, attributing to the insisting promotion of generic drug adoption by healthcare insurance providers.
On the basis of the diseases, the pharmaceutical drugs used for treatment of cardiovascular diseases will continue exhibiting robust growth in 2016. The demand for cardiovascular medications will continue to surge due to the prominence of circulatory disorders in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the rising prevalence of disorders related to body sugar levels is expected to make diabetes a rapidly growing disease-based sub-segment in the Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market.
The pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is also segmented on the basis of distribution channel, where retail pharmacies will continue to account for 80% market share compared to hospital pharmacies. The westernised modernisation of retail pharmacies in Saudi Arabia has led to the availability of a wide range drugs and medicinal products, thereby attaining a considerable growth in the retail pharmacy sub-segment in 2016 and further.
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The rising resource potential in Saudi Arabia is projected to positively reform the production environment for pharmaceutical manufacturers. In order to expand the market’s size, structuring alliances with well-established native companies is predicted to be a key strategy for global pharmaceutical leaders. The key players in the Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market include Novartis AG, SPIMACO, Pfizer Inc., and Glaxosmithkline plc., Jamjoom Pharma, and Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Co. among others.
Long-term Outlook: The Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.0% over the forecast period 2016-2026. In terms of market value, the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is estimated to be worth US$ 12,281.4 Mn by the end of forecast period.