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Looking at the search traffic for “Grooveshark” it appears that the term was put on the blacklist at the end of April, coinciding with the appeal Universal Music Group won against the streaming service. TorrentFreak asked both.
When it comes to being noticed on the worldwide web, publishers and content producers need to break into just two websites that account for nearly 80% of referral traffic. searching for lifestyle news are about 12 times more likely.
Check Backlinks Google Webmaster Tools Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine’s unpaid results—often referred. Last week, I wrote a blog post on the Top 10 Free SEO Tools for Beginners. Today I will be continuing on that theme with a look at
While Google parent company Alphabet. the company simultaneously warned of higher traffic acquisition costs.
Seo Basics For Posts Want to improve your WordPress SEO? Here are all the WordPress SEO best practices, tips, and the best WordPress SEO plugins that you need to know about. In this post I walk you through step by step how to perform the SEO basics on your blog posts so you'll get more traffic, build your list
Dec 12, 2016. The Republic of Ireland is one of Wales' biggest partners in trade and tourism but concern is building about the impact of Brexit. There are fears Brexit could put a dent in trade and travel and threaten the prosperity of Holyhead. The port of Holyhead, the port of Fishguard rely totally on Irish traffic.”.
Affiliate Marketing Part Time It may not always be money, but something needs to be spent, whether it’s time, Ureneck, director of commercial real estate for Elm City LLC, an affiliate of. Aug 24, 2012. Yes, the word “marketing” is part of the phrase affiliate marketing, but for the most part, our job as an affiliate is not to
Wales’ divisions over Brexit have deepened since the EU referendum. There are radically different expectations about what will happen when we leave the EU
Latest breaking news, including politics, crime and celebrity. Find stories, updates and expert opinion.
D.C., are the top three cities that are most impacted by Thanksgiving traffic. Providence, Boston, and Denver were on the bottom of the list, and cities like Los Angeles and Tampa came in in the middle. The top three places people search.
Sep 24, 2017 · Google is one of the biggest forces on the Internet. When we want to look something up, we Google it. When we want a.
Explore search interest for bitcoin by time, location and popularity on Google Trends.
Aug 18, 2017 · Headline 7 of the scariest places on Google Street View
Keyword concentration helps Google understand what that page is about, which can ultimately lead to more traffic from the search engines. Note-keywords do not refer to single words. 7. Include links. When you mention another.
Roy Chubby Brown on Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and being called racist. The outspoken performer answers his critics as he prepares for his up-coming Rhyl show
If publishers opted-out of first-click-free, their content has been demoted in search rankings — and, according to the WSJ, it suffered a 38% drop in traffic from Google Search in August 2017 after it stopped participating in program. In a.
Jun 27, 2017. According to a statement provided by EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Google's shopping tools are violating EU law in two ways. First, it gives prominent placement to its own shopping service in the form of "sponsored" results at the top of the search page. These results take you to Google Shopping,
Job Description Internet Marketing “It just works.” Steve Jobs kept saying this over and over again on stage. When Jobs does this, it’s never an accident. It’s a message. And it’s a message that was underscored by another word. “Automatically.” Jobs must have said it a. Internet/Web: (PC and Mac) Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox; Mac Safari • Experience
Wix Seo Bing Learn 5 easy ways to boost your site’s search engine optimization. From titles and descriptions to the right URL, get tips to improve your rank on Google. SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is really important when designing a new website. SEO's help ensure your website is found by search engines such as Google and Bing.
Jun 9, 2017. PM Theresa May casts her General Election vote in Berkshire. The search traffic on Google has seen a change in interest since 2016. Google Trends. 7. The search traffic on Google has seen a change in interest since 2016.
May 24, 2017. While Facebook users are more inclined towards lifestyle news, Google is popular among those looking for job postings and technology news. We get news from social media and publishers play the Facebook/Google game in order to draw readers. The two giants account for over 70% of all the traffic that.
News readers give their thoughts on traffic lights aimed at tackling Springholm speeders. The new signals that are being introduced will force anyone speeding in the.
The map will also show road closures and traffic. If you’re accessing Search or Maps from another location, it’ll populate with an option to make a donation. This is the latest crisis response tools from Google, joining features like Google.
Nov 30, 2017 · over 9 years ago Google Trends, which tracks the popularity of search terms over time, has added another layer: the ability to search on URLs to see.
Jun 27, 2017. Fine from Brussels hurts Google's brand and reputation. The effect was to promote its own Google Shopping service and push smaller rivals down the search rankings. “Visibility and traffic are. Over the years, traffic to Google Shopping in the U.K. grew 45-fold — thanks to that strategy, regulators said.
(RNN) – The British are feverishly searching Google trying to find out what the European Union is the day after they voted to leave it. “What is the EU?” is the second-most searched question in the U.K. since the passing of Brexit, the.


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THOUSANDS of people turned out over the weekend to meet celebrity chefs and enjoy top-quality grub at the fourth Liverpool Food and Drink Festival.
With more than 100 exhibitors and producers at Sefton Park, visitors could try foods from across the globe, as well as local produce.
The city’s top bars and restaurants also supported the event, which saw many families dodge the showers.
They took the chance to see demonstrations from celebrity chefs John Torode, Simon Rimmer and Marco Pierre White, among others.
Event director Denise Harris said she was “absolutely delighted” by the success of the weekend’s festival events.
She added: “The feedback we have received has been overwhelming.”
Among the smaller exhibitors at the festival was Jackie Brereton, whose Simply Be Gluten Free stand showed off gluten-free cakes and other food. She said reaction to her products, aimed at helping ease health problems, had proven popular.
She added: “Some people are not sure what it is about, but reaction has been very positive.”
The festival was also supported by leading city hotels, restaurants and bars, including the Malmaison, which set up a champagne bar. The hotel’s business development manager Adam Bell said they sold more bubbly on Saturday in Sefton Park than at any of its other bars.
He said: “It is the first time we have had a pop-up Malmaison. We are all about food and drink and we wanted to show people we are here and let them know what the hotel is like.”
Masterchef presenter Torode said the event was “amazing”.

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Union Station Neighborhood Eagerly Awaits Grand Opening of Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market will open its highly anticipated location near Union Station next week, on Nov. 15. The 60,000-square-foot grocery store will anchor Union Denver, a 580-unit luxury apartment community that covers an entire 2-acre city block bounded by Chestnut Place and 17th, 18th and Wewatta streets, developed by Holland Partner Group and designed by Davis Partnership Architects.
Located in downtown Denver’s most desirable neighborhood, residents of Union Denver are surrounded by the city’s most convenient public transportation — the light rail down to the Tech Center or the high-speed bus up to Boulder, and now the new A Line to DIA.
The new rail station-themed Whole Foods store will have a different feel than others in the metro area, with more prepared foods and a focus on walk-in shoppers who live or work downtown.
Image courtesy of Davis Partnership Architects


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Swissquote Reports Record Revenues in 2020
Swissquote, a Switzerland-based online trading platform, today announced its financial results for 2020. The company reported a significant jump in net revenues and net profit along with exceptional growth in the number of active clients.
According to the official results, Swissquote saw net revenues of CHF 317.3 million in 2020, a 37.6% jump compared to 2019. Net profit exceeded the expectations and reached CHF 91 million, up more than 100% compared to 2019.
The broker also highlighted a significant jump in the total number of accounts as the company added 50,636 accounts. Swissquote now has more than 410,000 accounts, the highest level on record. Client assets also jumped by 23.4% in 2020 and reached CHF 39.8 billion.
“2020 was an exceptional year in a large number of respects. Swissquote achieved strong and fundamental growth and can for the first time report over 400,000 client accounts. Client assets rose to a record CHF 39.8 billion on the back of an organic net new money inflow of CHF 5.3 billion. Net revenues rose by 37.6 percent compared with the previous year to CHF 317.3 million, while pre-tax profit more than doubled year-on-year to CHF 105.6 million,” Swissquote mentioned in the official announcement.
Swissquote highlighted the company’s expansion in the European region. The broker also mentioned the growing interest of traders in its cryptocurrency offerings. For 2021, the company is expecting substantial growth in revenues and net profit. “For 2021, Swissquote is expecting to record about 15 percent growth in revenues and 23 percent growth in pre-tax profit thanks to high net new money inflow and positive trading activity since the beginning of the year. Net revenues and pre-tax profit are predicted to come in at CHF 365 million and CHF 130 million respectively. Now that the initial medium-term targets for 2022 have been exceeded two years early, Swissquote aims to post further growth records: for 2024 it is targeting revenues of CHF 500 million and pre-tax profit of CHF 200 million,” Swissquote added.
Finance Magnates reported in December 2020 about the partnership between Tesla and Swissquote for the launch of car leasing.
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Ready Made Inc, a UCF Incubator company, has developed a ready to serve baby bottle that could revolutionize the industry. Ready Made is looking to be a convenient option for parents and by eliminating bacteria from infant feeding it may save lives.
Orlando, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/06/2016 -- Ready Made, a startup company in the University of Central Florida's Incubator program, has developed a ready to serve baby bottle. With the partnership of several local companies and the resources of the UCF Incubator, Ready Made was able to establish a manufacturing partnership and has produced the initial samples of their ready to serve bottles. Soon, they will be filling these bottles with liquid infant formula that does not require refrigeration and will stay fresh and bacteria free for 12 months.
Ready Made founder, Chairman and Chief Engineer, Dr. Corwin Littell developed the bottle with the vision of helping children in humanitarian and disaster relief as well as providing parents with a convenient bottle on the go. With a specially developed valve technology incorporated into the capping system, the Ready Made bottle requires no handling of the parts that go into a baby's mouth, and by doing so, eliminates the risk of bacteria cross contamination; something that can be very beneficial in hospitals and during disaster relief efforts. Starting next week, Ready Made will be sending these samples out to industry contacts domestically and to the rapidly growing Asian market and hopes to have them on the shelf and available for humanitarian use within the next 12 months.
About Ready Made
Ready Made is an Orlando Florida startup company that has developed and patented the ready to serve baby bottle.
To learn more about Ready Made, visit their website at www.readymadeinc.com.
For More Information Visit the Website at: http://www.readymadeinc.com/
For Media Contact:
Person Name: Matthew Marsh (CEO)
Email Id: email@example.com


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Consultants have warned in opposition to utilizing sure widespread passwords on apps as they improve the possibilities of being hacked, a brand new report discovered.
The study carried out by card funds firm Dojo discovered that many individuals are likely to recycle comparable passwords.
The examine checked out 100,000 breached passwords from the UK’s Nationwide Cyber Safety Middle after which grouped them into greater than 30 classes, from animals to star indicators.
The analysis yielded some fascinating commonalities: Most individuals have a tendency to make use of variations of the identical password, with a barely totally different quantity or character.
Individuals additionally are likely to gravitate towards sure password classes — on the prime of the checklist are pet names and phrases of endearment equivalent to “child,” “love” and “angel.”
“By seeing which class had probably the most breached passwords, the examine can reveal the password topics it is best to keep away from as a complete to remain safe on-line,” the examine wrote.
The examine additionally particularly suggested customers to avoid passwords that function issues equivalent to sports activities, automotive makes, meals, colours, cities, and nations, amongst others.
In response to the NCSC, different in style passwords to avoid are people who function a sequence of numbers equivalent to “123456” (23.2 million customers), “123456789” (7.7 million customers) and “1111111” (3.1 million customers).
It’s properly documented that cybercrime is on the rise, particularly as most cost choices are anticipated to be utterly digital sooner or later.
Moreover, cybercrime has soared by 600% for the reason that COVID pandemic, whereas 80% of UK organizations skilled no less than one profitable cyberattack in 2019.
Nevertheless, by enhancing your safety, you’ll be able to considerably decrease your danger of getting attacked by menace actors.
Whereas staying away from probably the most hacked key phrases is a begin, you’ll be able to take safety measures a step additional by choosing passwords generated by instruments like 1Password.
You can even make use of 3D Safe authentication for on-line credit score and debit card transactions.
This story initially appeared on the Sun and was reproduced right here with permission.
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Robb Farms owners harvest final crop: Head off on new adventure
WAIMEA — Everybody said it couldn’t be done, but Chris Robb proved them wrong.
A fixture in Waimea’s Lalamilo agriculture community, the 61-year-old farmer has harvested a bounty of produce on his 22-acre farm for the past 12 years. He is the only Caucasian farmer who has successfully grown certified organic vegetables there among lots that Japanese families have leased since the early 1960s.
But on April 12, he will hand over the land where Robb Farms sits to a new operator who will continue to meet the state’s certified organic produce demand.
A third-generation Hawaii resident, Chris and his wife, Ginny, are moving to the mainland for a new adventure: exploring opportunities in Southern Oregon’s booming Rogue Valley wine country near Medford.
“They have an up-and-coming wine industry. Residents call it ‘the next Napa,’” Chris said with a grin. “At this point in my life, wine grapes are a little more appealing than row cropping. It’s seasonal; you can have a life. The more affordable cost of living is what’s drawing us on this next adventure too.”
He first started getting his hands in the dirt at age 10, gardening in his hometown, Manoa, on Oahu. In 1982, Chris and Ginny moved to Hawaii Island.
“To get ahead around here is very hard in the farming business,” he said. “When we first moved to Kona, our landlord, Hideo Komo, gave us a lease on two acres of abandoned coffee land which I hand-cleared and got into production. He gave us our first break. Then we got up here, and Roy and Nobuko Hori offered to lease us the land in Lalamilo.”
They started Robb Farms there in 2004.
“We were the first ‘outsiders’ that the old-time families leased to,” Chris said. “They would lease to each other, but they wouldn’t lease to outsiders. Everybody said farming certified organic couldn’t be done and we proved them wrong. You don’t see too many white guys row cropping, not to mention certified organic. Even the University of Hawaii didn’t think you could farm organic up here.”
On Robb Farms, 19,000 seedlings are planted every week, 52 weeks of the year. The vegetables they grow are primarily fennel, broccoli and lettuce.
Customers include Whole Foods on Oahu and Maui, and distributors Armstrong on Oahu, Kula Produce on Maui and Adaptations Inc. in Kealakekua. Big Island consumers can find Robb Farms certified organic produce at Island Naturals in Kona, and KTA, Foodland and Healthways II in Waimea, Takata Store in Kapaau and Honaunau Market in Kona. Their large leaf lettuce can also be found in dishes on the menus at Pau and Luna in Waimea.
“It’s been very satisfying for us. We’ve been very fortunate,” Ginny said. “Our produce grew from being just an oddity — organic — to having a niche. And now it’s mainstream. So we’ve grown with the whole appeal. Having Whole Foods as our customer for the past eight years ago has been a big boost to our business.”
Max Bowman, a farmer in his early 30s, will take over in mid-April. For the past few months Chris has been mentoring him and his team, which includes his own son, Dylan, and Max’s younger brother, Noa. The name for the new operation will change to Anoano Farms.
“They have the energy, the spirit. Initially, Max will grow the same crops,” Chris said. “We have an established system, established market. I know he wants to get into more root crops. Beets do very well up here. The quality is super high.”
The conversation began last August.
“For us, leasing was really the only option. And for Max, that will enable him to make a profit. Once the owners agreed they would negotiate a lease with Max, then they started to spend some time with them to get the lay of the land,” Ginny said.
A Honokaa High School grad, Bowman studied at University of Redlands in California and then worked at Dean Okimoto’s Nalo Farms on Oahu straight out of college. He started his own business in the Hamakua Agricultural Co-Op about six years ago.
Healthways II co-owner Gloria Flack-Doggs has been a Robb Farms customer almost since the beginning.
“We’ve been doing business with Chris for more than 10 years,” she said. “They’re great people, and their lettuce and broccoli are excellent. We know this will be carried on.”
Looking back, the Robbs reflected on their biggest accomplishments.
“We’ve proven that you can farm organically up here,” Chris said. “I’ve heard all my life, ‘This is Hawaii, you can’t do that here.’ This has always irritated me, so my goal was to prove that it can be done.”
Ginny said the farm has also allowed them to raise their sons in a place where they could learn skills and stay out of trouble. All three have worked on the farm at some point.
“It’s given them a work ethic, the ability to be profitable and pride,” she said. “They really have been a big part of the success over the years.”
The Robbs also give special credit to their customers.
“They have actually identified the product on their menus and on the shelves,” Ginny said. “The feedback we get is certainly about the quality, being No. 1, the shelf life and taste. And people know that they get a good value — the most gratifying part. That has helped us keep our place in the market.”
In addition to being a farmer, she also calls Chris an “import displacement specialist.”
“We grow about 10,000 cases of large leaf lettuce a year that we are keeping them from being imported,” Chris explained. “We’re displacing 10,000 cases and another 40,000-50,000 pounds of broccoli and other assorted things. We’re trying to be part of the solution, not the problem. KTA has been a major supporter of local farmers for many, many years.”
If Chris could leave some words of wisdom for future organic farmers in Hawaii they would be, “Nature finds a balance, and if you work with nature, all in all you’ll come out ahead.”
Ginny added, “For people who want to get into farming, it’s no light commitment. But the payoff can be tremendous. You see tangible results from what you’re doing. We came with nothing, and are leaving with a lot of memories, success and goals achieved.”


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Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Convertible revealed
Ford releases images and details of its drop-top Shelby GT500, the most powerful Mustang cabrio yet
Ford has revealed its new Shelby GT500 Convertible at the 2012 Chicago motor show. And it marks 20 years of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (better known as SVT), which launched at the 1992 Chicago show with the Mustang Cobra and F-150 Lightning pick-up. The GT500 drop-top is powered by the same 650bhp/600lb ft 5.8-litre supercharged V8 as the coupe (revealed at last year’s LA motor show). Ford claims it’s the most powerful production V8 in the world, and it’s certainly potent enough to see off the Mustang’s muscle car rivals. Unlike its hard-top sibling though, which is claimed to top 200mph, the Convertible is limited to 155mph. Buyers get the option of a Performance Package, including Bilstein electronically-adjusted dampers, and a Track Package which improves cooling to the engine oil, transmission and rear differential. It all ties in with Ford’s claims of improved track ability – the new GT500 Convertible is said to lap Sebring International Raceway 3.5sec quicker than its predecessor. There’s no pricing or release dates available yet, but if you want one in the UK, it’ll remain an import job.


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An Uplers survey of digital agencies around the world looks at how the industry has pivoted and adjusted during the coronavirus pandemic – and points to a desire for outsourcing to try to be flexible for market conditions.
Allen Adamson and Allen Shapard of Metaforce explain why colleges must differentiate their learning experience to prove their brand is worth the money.
Even under the best of circumstances, the content creation and brand marketing processes are hard. We spoke with Goldie Chan about how to succeed at both.
Airship’s Mike Herrick looks at three experience-driven ways that brands can build lasting loyalty as marketing continues its digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ClipChamp's Anna Ji borrows from Tiger King to offer low-budget tips for how business owners can better connect with their target audiences, despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Azoya Group’s Franklin Chu says Facebook Shops combination of social media and e-commerce could make the platform a strong rival of Amazon and Google, and explores how social e-commerce already is a powerful tool in China.
With the coronavirus pandemic causing a work-from-home boom, Yotpo’s Raj Nijjer looks at how buying trends have changed dramatically. Understanding these new shopping and spending trends can create an opportunity for brands.
Neuro CEO and co-founder Kent Yoshimura identifies five lessons his company learned after a recent rebranding.
Targeting will be much harder for brands as cookies start to diminish. However, as the industry moves forward, a few targeting options stand out as promising alternatives, writes Eyeota’s Anand Das.
MightyHive’s Tobey Van Santvoord looks at four ways that brand marketers must change in a post-coronavirus quarantine world.
Each day, SmartBrief editors aggregate cybersecurity news from dozens of leading sources. Here are the top sources that you should know about.
SmartBrief discusses the importance of brand safety through native advertising.
Blue Fountain Media’s Brian Byer looks at the growing list of contactless applications from the use of voice technology as states reopen and stay-at-home orders are lifted during the coronavirus pandemic.
Are you prepared for a ransomware attack? Here’s everything you need to know about the current state of ransomware and how to protect your business.


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NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Tech stocks are on a tear this year, boosting the Nasdaq over 13% since January. The tech-heavy composite is also nearing 3,000 -- a milestone it hasn't reached since the bubble days of 2000. Nasdaq gains have outpaced increases from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has jumped 6% this year, as well as the S&P 500 which has risen 8%.
Social gaming specialist Zynga ( ZNGA), for example, has been one of 2012's key rebound stocks, surging nearly 38% this year thanks to largely to its partner Facebook. Unsurprisingly, tech behemoth Apple ( AAPL) is another of the sector's leaders as the gadget giant scales new heights. But not every tech company has benefited from this year's tech rally. Here are five tech leaders -- and laggards -- for 2012. Leaders:


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Global investment in FinTech rose to around $25 billion in 2015, an increase of approximately $10 billion on the previous year. This significant jump marked the continuation of a steep upward trend, and highlighted just how far FinTech has come since 2010 – when worldwide investment totalled under $5 billion.
The big picture of where that money went isn’t likely to raise too many eyebrows. Asia showed the strongest investment growth last year, while Silicon Valley remains the biggest employer in the FinTech sector, as well as a wide leader in terms of overall investment.
Zoom in a little closer, however, and 2015’s figures – according to a new report by Ernst & Young – reveal an intriguing FinTech narrative unfolding in Europe. Because while the UK continues to lead the world in terms of market size (at $8.9 billion), the numbers suggest that the long-anticipated surge of Germany as a FinTech powerhouse on par with its EU counterpart is now underway.
FinTech fundraising in Germany has increased 156% since 2013, rising from €80 million to €576 million last year and closing the gap on the UK in terms of absolute FinTech investment (the UK saw €707 million invested in 2015).
At present, around 250 FinTech companies call Germany home, an increase of more than 70% since 2013. These companies are primarily based in three key parts of the country: Berlin, Munich, and the Rhein-Main-Neckar region – the latter of which will be better known to most readers as the Frankfurt am Main area.
As Germany’s banking capital, Frankfurt is proving an increasingly popular proposition for FinTech start-ups and investment. While the number of new FinTechs in Germany rose by 13% in 2015, the Rhein-Main-Neckar region saw a more dramatic growth rate of 22% to help cement its status as the 2nd largest FinTech hub in Germany, with 56 companies compared to Berlin’s 70.
Advantages of Frankfurt and its surrounding area for FinTech extend beyond the fact it is home to so many banking headquarters. Frankfurt also boasts an enviable geographical location in Western Europe, and is well connected by Germany’s busiest airport and excellent transport links on the ground. Moreover, DE-CIX Frankfurt is the world’s largest internet exchange, making the city a key location in the global internet infrastructure. Such factors have attracted countless international businesses over the years, but understandably carry a special appeal for FinTech start-ups.
Ernst & Young’s report highlighted banking and lending as the dominant sector in the Rhein-Main-Neckar’s FinTech landscape, alongside platform markets and processes and technology. The report also included practical ideas that the region might embrace to ensure its continued FinTech expansion.
While acknowledging that the existing banking infrastructure represents a “major advantage for Frankfurt as a German FinTech hub”, the report proposes measures such as a single, subsidised office space for FinTech companies in the area to create a focal point for incubators, investors, and regulators. Other proposals include regular innovation and hackathon events that tie winners to Frankfurt as a base of operations. In general, says the report, the region should be quick to tap into the banking expertise available on its doorstep – while at the same time strengthening the ecosystem to establish itself as a lively location that’s more than just the “home of bankers and consultants”. By coordinating such activities and clearly communicating its advantages, Frankfurt has “great potential to become the leading German FinTech hub” according to Ernst & Young’s research.
With Germany as a whole well positioned to continue its rise as a FinTech leader in Europe and beyond, it will be interesting to see whether a dominant city does indeed emerge as the symbolic center of operations, or whether the current – and somewhat unique – status quo of spread-out success stories continues to define the landscape.


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The UK government is considering postponing the introduction of border checks on imports from the European Union to reduce the risk of disruption to supply chains this summer.
David Frost, the minister who negotiated the Brexit trade deal with the EU and is now leading the UK’s relations with the bloc, has asked officials to review the timetable of the new border paperwork requirements, which are due to start from April 1, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Britain has so far taken a light-touch approach to imports from the EU since Brexit, waiving customs requirements and allowing goods to enter freely. In contrast, the EU imposed full border controls on trade going the other way on January 1, causing delays to shipments and a decline in freight volumes.
Yet the UK’s lax stance is due to expire within weeks: From April, food products will require extra forms to enter the UK from the EU. And then, from July 1, stricter border inspections plus further documents for all EU imports are scheduled to begin.
The extra trade burden is due to coincide with the re-opening of Britain’s hospitality sector as lockdown restrictions ease, when demand for food and drink is expected to surge. About 80% of imported food in Britain’s supermarkets comes from the EU, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Food has been one of the industries worst-hit by the post-Brexit trade deal, with exports ranging from fish to meat held up and spoiling because they lack the correct paperwork.
“We will continue to work with business groups and the haulage industry to help them adapt to the new checks and new arrangements that are going to be put in place,” said Jamie Davies, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, on a call with reporters on Monday.
Another problem for Johnson’s government is that much of the physical infrastructure to conduct the post-Brexit import checks is not ready. Many ports won’t have built their facilities in time for handling inspections of food products for the July 1 deadline, said Richard Ballantyne, chief executive officer of the British Ports Association, in a phone interview.
Separately, the UK is facing legal action from the EU after unilaterally changing trade rules affecting Northern Ireland, going beyond what was agreed in their post-Brexit accord. The British government has extended a grace period for the introduction of export documents on food crossing from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland which was due to lapse on April 1. The requirements will now start from October 1.


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October 12, 2015
Guest blog post by Andrew Roberts, freelance investigative journalist, part-time political observer of the European Union.
People continue to wonder what all of these politicians are doing in Brussels throughout the year… You would be surprised at how many laws and regulations being created and passed that you have never heard of…and yes, a lot of them sound like we could live without them. But some of these regulations sometimes make their way to our doorsteps, and that’s when you realize that the EU could be putting its time and energy to better use…
The Telegraph recently came out with a quiz about crazy EU laws to find out if they are real, some of which included, “bananas shouldn’t be too bendy,” “water doesn’t hydrate you,” “diabetics are banned from driving,” “eggs cannot be sold by the dozen,” among others…all true.
In 2010, the EU said that food items could no longer be priced per quantity (for example, a practice that was historically for a dozen eggs or ten apples) and instead all prices should be based on weight. Last October, British Prime Minister David Cameron mocked the EU directive that banned diabetics from driving, and while this law is not enforced, it is real. And when it comes the fate of bananas, guidelines that were put in place in 1995 to throw them out if they were too bendy, was thankfully repealed in 2008. And if you think water is supposed to hydrate you, apparently you are wrong. The EU actually prohibits manufacturers of bottled drinking water to label their product with anything that would ‘suggest consumption would fight dehydration.’ (1)
This is what elected officials are spending their time on in Brussels. And while these insignificant laws might seem to not impact your daily lives – unless you have a banana farm – some of the regulations created by the EU do indeed affect you.
It is interesting to see that the EU can be “over-regulating” some small businesses and practices, while also being destructive to the freedom of its own citizens and making absurd decisions that truly threaten the livelihood of many Europeans.
Recently, Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission expressed his vow to change the regulations and laws in terms of copyright throughout Europe. Once again, copyright may not sound like a huge issue, but inevitably that impacts everyone’s daily lives and Juncker’s vows are now threatening Europe’s cultural landscape.
Through the Reda report, put out by MEP Julia Reda from the Pirate Party, Juncker communicates his wish to reform copyright laws. The idea behind the project is to transform the copyright laws into more homogeneous and ‘digital age friendly’ regulations. Having chosen Reda as the rapporteur for the project greatly deregulated the regulations.
The idea overall is to change the copyright laws, which were until now beneficial to the artists, writers and inventors, into copyright laws that would only benefit the viewers and consumers, making it easier for them to access the creative content anywhere and any time. At the same time, this threatens the work of artists, threatening their ability to be compensated for it, threatening their livelihood and their motivation to keep creating new content.
In the long run, the entire ‘European Cultural Exception’ could be threatened. But culture is only one of the industries that feel endangered by the EU’s absurd regulations. For instance, the issue impacts organic farmers, who feel that the EU could rapidly become too restraining for them.
Last year on March 24th, the EU Commission released a proposal for a complete overhaul of the EU organic regulation. Imports were at the center of the proposal, which foresees the replacement of the laws of today and instead require absolute compliance of EU regulation. This means that an organic product currently entering the EU would need to comply with reliable organic standards equal to that of the native countries. But the absolute compliance doesn’t look at the regional specificities, which invites absurd situations that could affect the import into the EU.
There are many products that are not grown in Europe but that are well appreciated by Europeans, such as coffee, with organic coffee becoming a major import this past decade. However in many parts of Africa for example, today it is impossible for the farmers to comply with the EU regulations. “An African organic mango farmer who feeds household waste to a pig on his farm or buys a non-organic young goat for milk production may, under the new rules, no longer be able to export his produce to the EU as this would not comply with the foreseen regulation” according to a member of the European Organic Agriculture Associations (2) Whether it’s organic food or culture, the EU seems to have the same process when making regulations: “The EU Commission wants to strengthen organic in Europe, yet it creates new hurdles”
(1). An increasing number of Europeans will keep protesting to avoid these hurdles and to keep hoping that the EU starts getting smarter about the designs of their regulations.
(2) Controversial overhaul of EU organic regulation raises red flags, April 17th 2014, organic-market-info


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The New Global Order in the Pharma IndustryBy
The rankings of the top global pharmaceutical companies and products are undergoing change as mergers and acquisitions, new product launches, and the rise of biologics influence the order of the pharmaceutical industry.
Recent proposed merger and acquisition activity, led by Teva Pharmaceutical’s interest in acquiring Mylan, and Mylan’s bid to acquire Perrigo, would create new top players in the global pharmaceutical market, already altered by Actavis’ acquisition of Allergan, in a deal completed earlier this year. Also, the industry has seen the emergence of Gilead Sciences among the top companies with the successful launch of Sovaldi, the company’s hepatitis C drug as well as the positioning of AbbVie’s Humira, a biologic, as the industry’s top-selling prescription drug.DCAT Value Chain Insights (VCI) looks at the top companies and products from 2014.
A changing pharmaceutical market order
A combination of Teva and Mylan or Mylan and Perrigo would further elevate specialty/generic companies among the top pharmaceutical companies.Table I outlines the rankings of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies as of December 2014. The rankings are based on manufacturers’ prices, including prescription and certain over-the-counter data, based on US dollars using quarterly exchange rates and not reflecting transactions completed in 2015. Mylan and Teva are already ranked among the top global pharmaceutical companies, with Teva occupying the number nine position and Mylan the number 20 slot, according to data from IMS.
|Table I: Top 20 Global
Pharmaceutical Companies, 2014
|Sales and rank are in US$ with quarterly exchange rates and based on data as of December 2014. Sales cover direct and indirect pharmaceutical channel wholesalers and manufacturers. The figures include prescription and certain over the counter data and represent manufacturers’ prices.
Above rankings do not include transactions completed in 2015: Actavis’ acquisition of Allergan, announced in 2014, and completed in 2015, and Novartis’ three-part transaction with GlaxoSmithKline, announced in 2014 and completed in 2015.
Source: IMS Health MIDAS, December 2014.
A combined Mylan and Teva (not addressing possible divestments) would move further in the rankings among the top 10 companies with a combined company having pro forma 2014 sales of approximately $30 billion. As of April 27, 2015, Mylan had rejected Teva’s offer to acquire Mylan, and Mylan is instead pursuing an acquisition of Perrigo, a Dublin, Ireland-headquartered specialty, generic, and over-the-counter company. Mylan formally launched a proposal to acquire Perrigo on April 24, 2015, following the company’s announcement earlier in April 2015 that it had made a non-binding proposal to acquire Perrigo, for $28.9 billion, a proposal that Perrigo rejected on April 21, 2015. Under its formal proposal, Mylan issued a Rule 2.5 announcement under Irish Takeover Rules setting forth its legally-binding commitment to commence an offer for the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of Perrigo. Under the terms of the offer announced, Perrigo shareholders wouldl receive $60 in cash and 2.2 Mylan ordinary shares for each Perrigo ordinary share. If the deal were to proceed, Mylan shareholders would own approximately 61.8% of the outstanding Mylan ordinary shares on a fully diluted basis, and former Perrigo shareholders will own approximately 38.2% of the outstanding Mylan ordinary shares on a fully diluted basis.
In addition to this proposed deal-making, in 2014, the global pharmaceutical market saw the rise of two companies, Gilead Sciences and Actavis, among the top pharmaceutical companies (see Table I). Gilead Sciences moved into the rankings of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies into the number 10 spot in 2014. The ascent of Gilead, which was ranked number 20 in 2013, is primarily to the success of Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), a drug to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Sovaldi was one of the industry’s top-selling drugs in 2014 with 2014 global sales of $10.28 billion following its approval in the US in December 2013 and in the European Union in January 2014, according to Gilead’s reported 2014 results, and further contributing was Harvoni, a combination therapy of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir for treating HCV injection, which had 2014 global sales of nearly $2.13 billion.
In 2015, Actavis is expected to rise from its 2014 ranking of seventeen to among or near the top 10 pharmaceutical companies as a result of its approximately $70.5 billion acquisition of Allergan, a deal which was completed in March 2015. The deal created a combined company with annual pro forma revenues of more than $23 billion anticipated in 2015,which would move Actavis in or near the top 10 companies (see Table I). The combined company has six blockbuster franchises with combined pro forma 2015 revenues of approximately $15 billion expected, including franchises with annual revenues in excess of $3 billion in eye care, neurosciences/central nervous system, and medical aesthetics/dermatology/plastic surgery. The combined company has an expanded commercial presence, which includes approximately 100 countries, with an enhanced presence across Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America and a strong footprint in China and India and R&D funding of approximately $1.7 billion expected in 2015, focused within brands, generics, biologics and over-the-counter portfolios. The combined company has more than 20 innovative products in near- or mid-term development. Its generics pipeline has approximately 230 abbreviated new drug applications pending at the US Food and Drug Administration, including approximately 70 first-to-file applications, as well as nearly 1,000 marketing authorization applications filed outside of the US in 2014.
The acquisition of Allergan by Actavis is the latest in a series of high-profile acquisitions involving Actavis. In July 2014, it closed on the approximate $28 billion acquisition of Forest Laboratories. In October 2012, the generic-drug company Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. completed its acquisition of Actavis Group; Watson then changed its corporate name to Actavis in January 2013. The combination of Watson and Actavis created the third largest generic-drug company on a global basis at the time and strengthened the company’s position in modified release, solid oral dosage, and transdermal products and broadened its portfolio to include semi-solids, liquids, and injectables. In October 2013, Actavis completed its acquisition of Warner Chilcott plc, which capitalized on the complementary specialty pharmaceuticals strengths and market positions of the two organizations, particularly in women’s health and urology, as well as in gastroenterology and dermatology. These deals were followed by Actavis’ acquisition of Forest Laboratories. Actavis announced the agreement to acquire Forest Laboratories in February 2014 and completed the deal on July 1, 2014 with Forest becoming a subsidiary of Actavis. Also, in November 2014, Actavis completed its $675 million acquisition of the specialty pharmaceutical company, Durata Therapeutics.
Another deal of note in 2014 was a three-part transaction involving the number one pharmaceutical company, Novartis, and another top 10 pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which was announced in 2014 and which closed earlier this year. Under that deal, Novartis and GSK combined their consumer heatlhcare businesses into a joint venture, GSK divested its oncology products to Novartis in a deal value at more than $16.0 billion, and GSK acquired Novartis’ vaccine business (excluding flu) for approximately $7.1 billion. In a related, separate transaction, Novartis sold its animal health business to Eli Lilly for $5.4 billion, a deal that was announced in 2014 and completed earlier this year.
Other recent deals among the large pharmaceutical companies included the sales by Merck & Co. of its consumer healthcare business to Bayer for $14.2 billion, which was completed in October 2014. In a deal completed in late February 2015, Mylan acquired Abbott Laboratories’ non-U.S. developed markets specialty and branded generics business for approximately $5.3 billion. Other recent deals included Merck & Co.’s $9.5 billion acquisition of Cubist Pharmaceuticals (a deal that was completed in 2015), Roche’s $8.3 billion acquisition of InterMune (completed in 2014), and Merck & Co.’s $3.85 billion acquisition of Idenix Pharmaceuticals (completed in 2014).
Other upcoming deal closings expected in 2015 include AbbVie’s proposed acquisition of Pharmacyclics, a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing small-molecule drugs for treating cancer and immune-mediated diseases, for $21 billion, in a deal that is expected to close in mid 2015. The deal follows AbbVie’s efforts last year to acquire the specialty pharmaceutical company, Shire, for nearly $55 billion, a deal in which AbbVie eventually decided not to pursue. AbbVie’s proposed acquisition of Shire involved a tax inversion structure by which the New AbbVie was to become a holding company for the combined AbbVie and Shire and to be incorporated in Jersey, the UK, Shire’s place of incorporation. Through its incorporation in the UK, the AbbVie board expected the transaction to reduce New AbbVie’s effective tax rate to approximately 13% by 2016. A subsequent notice by the US Department of Treasury, however, which signaled a limiting of corporate tax inversions, cast uncertainty as to this practice, so AbbVie decided to terminate the proposed acquisition.
The deal for Pharmacyclics strengthens AbbVie’s position in oncology drugs. Pharmacyclics’ key product is Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for treating hematologic malignancies. Imbruvica is a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor approved for use in four indications to treat three different types of blood cancers, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia. Imbruvica received initial US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2013 and received three Breakthrough Therapy designations by the FDA for these indications. (Breakthrough Therapy designations are provided if preliminary clinical evidence indicates the drug may offer a substantial improvement over available therapies for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases). The drug is now is approved in more than 40 countries. In 2014, Pharmacyclics posted revenues of $730 million, compared to $260 million for 2013, primarily due to a $479-million increase in Imbruvica net product revenue in 2014, the first full year of the drug’s product sales. In its 2014 earnings release, Pharmacyclics said it expects US net product revenue of Imbruvica to be approximately $1 billion.
Another deal of note thus far in 2015 is Pfizer’s proposed $17 billion acquisition of the specialty pharmaceutical company, Hospira, which is expected to close in the second half of 2015. Although not reaching the scale of Pfizer’s pursuit of AstraZeneca in 2014, the deal provides a targeted vehicle for Pfizer to grow its global sterile injectables business, including generic sterile injectables, as well as further position Pfizer in biosimilars. The deal provides a growing revenue stream and a platform for growth for Pfizer’s Global Established Pharmaceutical (GEP) business by combining Hospira’s generic sterile injectables products, including acute care and oncology injectables, with a number of differentiated presentations, with Pfizer’s GEP’s branded sterile injectables, including anti-infectives, anti-inflammatories, and cytotoxics.
As companies shift positions in the global rankings, so do products, as biologics continued to make inroads among the top-selling drugs in 2014, led by AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab), which was the industry’s top-selling drug in 2014 (based on data as of December 2014 and on manufacturers’ prices) (see Table II), according to IMS. Since first gaining approval 12 years ago, Humira has been approved in more than 87 countries. It is currently has approval for 11 indications on a global basis. Humira is approved for use in moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, active and progressive psoriatic arthritis, moderate to severely active Crohn’s Disease and moderate to severely active ulcerative colitis. Humira is approved in pediatric patients for use in enthesitis-related arthritis, severe plaque psoriasis, severe Crohn’s disease, and active juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients who have had inadequate response to prior therapy. Humira is AbbVie’s top-selling drug. It had 2014 sales of $12.5 billion on a company reported basis, accounting for 63%,of the company’s 2014 sales of $19.960 billion.
Sanofi’s Lantus (insulin glargine) was the industry’s second best-selling drug in 2014 and the top-selling product for Sanofi. Lantus had 2014 sales of EUR 6.344 billion ($7.180 billion) on a company reported basis and now faces patent expiry, effective in February 2015 in the US and in May 2015 in the EU. Sanofi is banking on Toujeo, a next-generation, once-daily basal insulin based on insulin glargine, which is the active ingredient in Lantus. Gilead’s Sovaldi, the previously mentioned hepatitis C drug, was also a top-selling drug in 2015 and the top-selling small molecule. Of the top 20-selling pharmaceuticals in 2014, 10 were biologics and 10 were small molecules (see Table II).
|Table II. Top 20 Global Pharmaceutical Products, 2014|
|Sales and rank are in US$ with quarterly exchange rates and based on data as of December 2014. Sales cover direct and indirect pharmaceutical channel wholesalers and manufacturers. The figures include prescription and certain over the counter data and represent manufacturers’ prices Product names are IMS International Product names. Product names around the world with different names or marketing companies are grouped together. The names generally reflect the name in the country where the product was first launched. A match on two of three criteria (local brand name, marketing corporation, and active ingredient) will be grouped together.
Source: IMS Health MIDAS, December 2014


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Chinese court bans the sales of old iPhones
In a surprising decision, a Chinese court has banned the sales and import of most of the iPhone models in China. The court issued the order that sales and imports of all the iPhones except the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR will be banned in China after finding that Apple Inc infringed on two patents held by Qualcomm Inc. These old iPhones cover up to 10-15% of the total iPhone sales in China.
According to Qualcomm, Apple violated two of its patents in iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, these patents enabled the iPhones to edit and resize photos and to manage apps. The court announced its decision on Monday but the ruling was put into effect last week. Apple was quick to react on this and in a statement responded rather aggressively.
In a statement released to Reuters, Apple commented, “Qualcomm’s effort to ban our products is another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world.”
Apple accused Qualcomm of playing dirty tricks and stated the fact that the chipset maker wrongly accused Apple of a patent that had already been invalidated by the international courts, Furthermore, the Cupertino giant also highlighted that Qualcomm has been fined millions of dollars for abusing its modem technology in Taiwan and China. Apple said that its old iPhones in China remain on sale and on Monday filed a request for the court to reconsider its decision. There have been lots of legal battles between Apple and Qualcomm in the past, the most recent of which includes Qualcomm accusing Apple of


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Brainstorm Tech Startup Idol: And this year’s winner is…
Five innovative startups showed up at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech in Aspen, Colo. on Wednesday, all vying for the title of Startup Idol. But only one could walk away victorious. At stake? Fortune’s golden stamp of approval, of course.
The pitch: The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based online charity site is all about raising small donations, pooling them together, and donating them to a cause. Members sign up online and select one of hundreds of non-profit charities they would like to donate to, like, say, the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, and how much they’d like to donate each month, starting at $1. “The number one reason most people don’t give is because they think their small donation will make a difference,” said CEO Susan Cooney.
The money goes into a giving circle, or “neighborhood,” money pool the member joins. They and other members of the neighborhood can cast a vote once a month for the cause they’d like the pool money to go toward: Whichever cause snags the most votes wins and receives all the neighborhood money that month.
Judge’s critique: “I love crowdsourcing, but I’m unclear how it works and how it pays. My question? To whom do you sell this and how do you sell it?” wondered David Bell, Chairman, gyro, and Director, Time Inc.
The pitch: Why adjust that standing desk manually when the desk can do it for you? So goes the design philosophy behind Stir first product, the Kinetic Desk ($3,890), a standing desk Stir CEO JP Labrosse launched last year with a built-in touchscreen and heat sensor. All that tech tracks when someone is at their desk, learns things like how long they prefer to stand, and automatically adjusts the desk’s height. Labrosse points out the Kinectic Desk’s health benefits shouldn’t be ignored: Four hours of standing is equivalent to the calories burned from a 2-mile run.
Judge’s critique: “How many desks do you plan to sell directly via e-commerce and via retailers?” asked Jeff Fagnan, an Atlas Venture partner.
The pitch: In 2010, CEO Ryan Harwood left his job at a New York City investment bank to jumpstart PureWow, an email newsletter and lifestyle web site for women partly backed by Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group and Lerer Ventures. The content typically ranges from “how to” beauty tips (“Master the cat eye with Benefit’s new eyeliner”) to food recipes. The goal: to help readers “find special ideas they can’t find anywhere else in a unique tone of voice.” Now, PureWow’s site has over 4 million readers, while nearly 2.5 million subscribe to the newsletter, according to Harwood.
Judge’s critique: “Congrats on doing this all on HTML 5,” said Fagnan. “My question is all about the metrics. … I want to know more about what your users are doing. Because it is true: it is a scale game. ”
The pitch: Karen Moon’s startup dissects over 1 billion different online “signals” — like for instance, what people are saying on Facebook (FB)or Twitter (TWTR) about a certain trend — to help fashion industry professionals keep track of what’s popular with shoppers. The data also proves helpful for merchandisers to figure out which items to stock so they’re less likely to have excess, unsold inventory. Indeed, Moon says over 50% of all merchandise is currently sold at a loss. But with Trendalytics, that percentage could be significantly less.
Judge’s critique: “How are you going to get merchants to pay for this?” asked Wenda Harris Millard, COO of MediaLink. “They are notoriously cheap, so I’m wondering how you sized this market.”
The pitch: Former New Yorker Kyle Wong argues where brand marketing is concerned, user-generated photos and videos are king. “These photos aren’t just 1,000 words, they’re worth 1,000 words of endorsement,” argued Wong. So he developed Pixlee, a service that lets brands track which user-uploaded media are likely to resonate with shoppers and distributes them across the brand’s different platforms, including social media. According to Wong, Pixlee already has partners that include Coca-Cola (CCE), Jamba Juice, BMW and Nestle.
Judge’s critique: “I’m wondering about your competition,” mused Millard, who said she’s come across at least one other similar business. “My other question: distribution platforms. How do consumers discover it?”
3rd place: 21% PureWow
2nd place: 31% Stir
1st place: 34% Pixlee


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"These e-cards are unlike anything else available on the Web," says Jim Hunter, founder and creative director for Molly Hunter E-cards. "They're not just simple tokens of affection; they're reflections on love and life itself."
Featuring meticulously detailed animation, custom-composed music, and numerous options for personalization, Molly Hunter E-cards offer a more sophisticated alternative to traditional e-cards. "People don't want to say 'I love you' with a cookie-cutter card," says Hunter. "And now, with Molly Hunter E-cards, they don't have to. Our e-cards allow people to express emotions and celebrate occasions in a unique and personal way."
A year-long membership to MollyHunter.com will cost $9.95 and include:
-- Unlimited access to e-cards;
-- The option of attaching gift certificates from RedEnvelope and Amazon.com;
-- Special e-card tools, like the ability to pre-schedule e-cards to be sent throughout the year; and
-- A "create your own card" feature, which allows members to personalize cards by uploading their own photos and choosing the colors, fonts, and even music.
To extend the significance of these pet-themed e-cards, MollyHunter.com will donate 2 percent of all profits to PAWS Chicago, the city's largest no-kill animal shelter. "PAWS is the perfect charity for us," says Hunter, who sees social responsibility as one of the primary business tenets for Molly Hunter E-cards. "It's the right thing to do," he says. "And I think our customers will appreciate it. They'll know that when they purchase a Molly Hunter E-Card, they're also contributing to a worthwhile cause."
As MollyHunter.com opens for business today, plans are already underway for new e-cards, and Hunter expects the menagerie of pets featured in the cards to grow. While Jasper and Molly will always remain central to the Molly Hunter E-card brand, new e-cards will feature additional domestic friends, including Sam, the Rottie-next-door, and Bianca, a beautiful and aloof Siamese cat. Some of these new e-cards are already being developed, and they will be unveiled throughout 2006.
The MollyHunter.com logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2568


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ImageWare biometrics revenues decline but net improves as Nuance and Ping appoint new executives
Mixed results from ImageWare, strong results from Huami, and fundraising authorization from Zwipe’s AGM are among the latest developments for publicly-traded biometrics providers. Both Nuance and Ping have appointed women to senior leadership positions with major AI and cloud credentials, respectively.
ImageWare Systems has reported just over $3.5 million in revenue for full-year 2019, a decline of 20 percent from $4.4 million the previous year. Gross profit was up by two percent, and net loss shrunk from $12.55 million in 2018 to $11.58 million. Loss per share was unchanged at $0.17.
The company made $979,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2019, a decrease from $1,067,000 in the same quarter a year earlier, with a slight dip in gross profit. Net loss for the quarter declined to $2.755 million from $3.127 million in Q4 2018, and was flat on a per share basis at $0.05.
ImageWare completed a SOC-2 audit validating the security compliance of its biometric identity management platform in December.
“I joined ImageWare at the end of February, assuming day-to-day leadership to build upon a foundation of incredible intellectual property and its great potential,” says ImageWare CEO and President Kristin A. Taylor. “I immediately began work toward my goals to increase revenues and expand our products and platforms. I launched an essential review and assessment of all of our products, services, divisions and departments.”
Huami reports major revenue growth
Huami Technology has reported first quarter revenues of 1.0885 billion yuan (US$153.7 million) in the first quarter of its fiscal 2020 year, an increase of 36.1 percent from the same quarter a year ago, according to a company announcement, beating its guidance.
Total shipments of Huami’s smart devices reached 7.6 million units, likewise an increase of roughly 36 percent, and the company maintained profitability.
Company Founder, Chairman and CEO Huang Wang said increasing brand recognition, new products and successful marketing contributed to the company’s growth. He also says the company is watching marlet nuances in each key region and has adopted a strategy of both direct and third-party channel sales.
Recent company highlights include the publication of a research paper on the role of wearables with health monitoring capabilities for epidemic warning and public health management, and joining the Chinese Athletics Association and the Chinese National Athletics Team as a partner.
The company launched a new line of Amazfit wearables including smart headphones at CES this year.
Nuance appoints new healthcare business lead
Nuance Communications has appointed former Wolters Kluwer Health CEO Diana Nole to lead its healthcare business as executive vice president and general manager.
At Wolters Kluwer, Nole built a centralized data science team to accelerate the introduction of next-generation AI-based solutions for data interoperability, clinical surveillance and competency test preparation for nurses, according to the company announcement. She also performed a product development leadership role with Carestream Health’s Digital Medical Solutions Division.
“This is a critical time for healthcare organizations – the world has changed – and healthcare must change with it,” comments Nole. “Nuance’s depth of customer relationships along with the breadth of its AI-powered healthcare solutions portfolio, including the Dragon Ambient eXperience and PowerScribe One, provide a unique opportunity to empower healthcare organizations to unlock value and have a positive and lasting impact on the global healthcare landscape. It is an honor to join Nuance’s seasoned Healthcare team at this extraordinary time, and I look forward to what’s ahead.”
Ping adds Chief Product Officer
Ping Identity has appointed AWS veteran Candace Worley as its new global chief product officer to advance the company’s product vision, lead technical innovation efforts and bring its identity solutions to market.
Worley led AWS’ enterprise strategist and vertical marketing teams, developed enterprise level messaging, marketing plans, and industry insights to accelerate customers’ time to value for their cloud projects. She has also held key product management and chief technologist roles at McAfee and Intel Security.
“Identity is now the foundation of all things digital,” states Worley. “Ping’s commitment to guaranteeing that all digital transactions are as secure in the digital world as they are in the physical world stands out as the type of mission that gets me excited. I’m looking forward to progressing Ping’s goals and pioneering enhanced digital, contactless and mobile product capabilities.”
Zwipe approves share issuance to raise capital
Zwipe has published the minutes of its annual general meeting, where all proposed resolutions were approved unanimously.
The company’s annual report and financial statements, proposed board members and renumeration for the board and nominating committee were all adopted as planned. Zwipe has also granted authorization for the board to raise equity with share issuances of up to 8.5 percent of the registered share capital, raising up to nearly NOK 217,000 (US$21,450) to fund its incentive program, and of up to 25 percent to strengthen its equity as needed.


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Venture Capitalist Eric Hippeau: Silicon Valley Builds Technology, New York City Applies It
The former Huffington Post CEO discusses the similarities and difference between New York City and Silicon Valley with regard to technology startups.
Eric Hippeau: My name is Eric Hippeau. I’m a venture capitalist. My firm is called Lerer Hippeau Ventures where it’s me plus three other partners. We are technology investors so we look for companies that use technology, primarily consumer technology. It doesn’t mean that they have to be consumer facing but the technology has to be based on the same technology that we all use day to day.
And so we’re looking for companies that use technology to either create large new marketplaces or large new businesses or who disrupt large businesses that are already in place. And New York is particularly well suited for this because there’s a lot of people with very diverse backgrounds, diverse domain knowledge. We have a lot of people in our educational system, a million kids, in our public school system, 600,000 college students. And technology today is primarily developed in large urban centers. So obviously New York is well positioned for that.
The difference between New York and Silicon Valley is in the kind of technology that we develop here as opposed to in Silicon Valley. First I think we should point out what the similarities are. And the similarities are that because technology today is transportable and rentable and relatively cheap to use, we in New York, but it could be anywhere – it could be Bombay, it could be Austin – have access to the same technology to develop new applications, new services than anybody in Silicon Valley. So everyone starts with the same level playing field. The technology is accessible through the Cloud. It’s rentable through the Cloud. Anybody can start a company with, you know, a couple of laptops and two or three people and a few thousand dollars literally and you can start a company and you can start a business. So it’s very different today than it was just a few years ago where a large part of the money that you raised actually went to the acquisition of the technology. You had to buy servers, you had to buy hardware, you had to buy expensive software licenses. And today you don’t have to do any of that. So that’s a big difference but we have in New York as anywhere else access to the same latest developments in technology than anybody in Silicon Valley. The big difference is that New York focuses more on the software layer, on the application and the services layer so that we’re really good at software in New York. We’re good at platforms. We’re good at consumer facing applications. We’re good at enterprise software, software as a service. We’re good at a variety of different domains.
Obviously the ones that you can think of, the traditional sectors such as advertising and media but also health care and, you know, a variety of different domains where you have people who have experience and expertise because, you know, some big companies are located here and big sectors of the economy are based here. What New York is probably not going to do is develop the next plumbing for the Internet. That’s more likely to be coming out of the West Coast but having said that we’re increasingly getting more and more advanced engineering talent in New York. In fact, on Roosevelt Island there’s going to be a Cornell University in conjunction with the big technology institute in Israel are building a campus which will be ready in two or three years. But the classes have already started in other locations. And this is all going to be advanced applied engineering. So who knows what’s going to develop in the future. Some hardware is already being developed in New York. We invested, for instance, in Makerbot, the 3D printer company that was sold recently to another 3D printer company. So there is a background in hardware and manufacturing in New York, but generally speaking it’s really software that’s the big thing as it were here in New York.
Directed / Produced by Jonathan Fowler, Elizabeth Rodd, or Dillon Fitton
Venture Capitalist Eric Hippeau discusses the similarities and difference between New York City and Silicon Valley with regard to technology startups. Where California is currently home to tech world trendsetters, the Big Apple's focus is on software development and application. That said, New York's diverse collection of resources has the potential to make it the next major technology hub.
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The Oxfam report prompted Anand Giridharadas to tweet: "Don't be Pinkered into everything's-getting-better complacency."
- A new report by Oxfam argues that wealth inequality is causing poverty and misery around the world.
- In the last year, the world's billionaires saw their wealth increase by 12%, while the poorest 3.8 billion people on the planet lost 11% of their wealth.
- The report prompted Anand Giridharadas to tweet: "Don't be Pinkered into everything's-getting-better complacency." We explain what Steven Pinker's got to do with it.
Moans, groans, and gripes release stress hormones in the brain.
Could you give up complaining for a whole month? That's the crux of this interesting piece by Jessica Hullinger over at Fast Company. Hullinger explores the reasons why humans are so predisposed to griping and why, despite these predispositions, we should all try to complain less. As for no complaining for a month, that was the goal for people enrolled in the Complaint Restraint project.
Participants sought to go the entirety of February without so much as a moan, groan, or bellyache.
- Facebook and Google began as companies with supposedly noble purposes.
- Creating a more connected world and indexing the world's information: what could be better than that?
- But pressure to return value to shareholders came at the expense of their own users.
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Chinese households accumulated $2.6 trillion in new savings last year. The number is the largest in history, as lockdowns curbed consumer spending. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is targeting consumption to drive the country’s economic growth post lockdowns.
The COVID restrictions in China of the past three years have led to slower economic growth, but with the Spring Festival wrapping up and people heading back to work, there are signs of economic recovery.
“I have been seeing people coming back to work, streets are crowded, malls are crowded. We are starting to see traffic jams. These are very good signs of normalcy,” said John Gong, professor of economics as the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
China recorded slower consumption numbers than normal during the lockdowns. Household spending, the amount spent to meet households’ everyday needs, was 38 percent of Chinese gross domestic product in 2021. This statistic is typically around 60 percent of a nation’s GDP, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“I think normally you would expect for the Chinese economy, 50 percent should be in consumption. Less than 40 percent is something abnormal here,” Gong said.”I think the normal number should be around 50 percent. I think there is a lot of room to grow here.”
Meanwhile, China’s national gross savings rate has seen record increases.Savings grew to $2.6 trillion in 2022, according to the People’s Bank of China. Will this and the easing of COVID give Chinese the confidence to spend it?
“In terms of consumption moving forward, for the richer people, for the well-off people, for the middle-class people and upper middle-class people, they have the means to spend in my view, their consumption is going to definitely be much stronger this year,” Gong said. “Now for the rest of the population, people more on the edge and those struggling in life, I think they’re still being very cautious about spending. They still have the mindset of preparing for future uncertainties. So, it is a matter for the government to relieve their concerns.”
The Chinese government is now focused on accelerating consumption to aid in recovery. China’s State Council Executive met on Jan. 28 and announced a plan to boost consumption.This includes policies that support consumer service businesses, and increases in consumer loans.


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By Michael Evans
Entrepreneur and "Buy Australian" campaigner Dick Smith says he will "rubbish" the electronics business he founded and that still bears his name if it is sold into foreign ownership.
"There will be a real problem if Woolworths do sell it to a foreign-owned company," Mr Smith said, in response to news that Woolworths plans to close underperforming stores and sell the consumer electronics business after years of underperformance.
"I'll rubbish them the whole time. They wouldn't want to pay much."
Asked why he would attack the foreign takeover of his namesake stores, Mr Smith said: "Because I'm a proud Australian and this is just continuing where all the wealth is going overseas and damaging our country.
"I would just point out all the time that this is further destruction of Australia."
Mr Smith said he understood, though, why Woolworths was looking to sell the business.
"The reason why Woolworths wants to sell is they have to have businesses with growth and I don't think there's any growth in that field," he said.
"I think this is a sign of extreme capitalism coming to the limits of growth. I think they're doing a sensible thing and they've owned Dick Smith for 30 years and made a fortune out of it, but once the growth is gone, which I think it has in that field, I can understand them selling it.
"I'm amazed that they've kept it for so long."
Mr Smith said he was not interested in buying the company and nor would any publicly listed company be interested in buying it.
"It couldn't be a public company. If you run a public company, you'll be thrown out as chief executive if you don't have growth. I have a feeling a Dick Smith will go. You'll find you'll buy your electronics in a big warehouse from a Costco or an Aldi."
New Woolworths chief Grant O'Brien used his conference call today to stress that the company would seek to employ staff whose positions disappear in the revamp of the Dick Smith stories, dismissing a report that hundreds of jobs will go.


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Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd may suffer LCCT delay, gategroup announces North American contracts
Managing Director, Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad stated so far MAHB has awarded two contracts for earth works to WCT Bhd and Gadang Holdings Bhd, but major contracts had not been awarded yet. Further details on the bidders were not provided.
Earlier this week, Copenhagen Airports (CPH) held the topping-out ceremony for CPH Swift, its new low-cost pier, on 25-Mar-2010. Scheduled to commence operation in six months, the new low-cost concept will “help to attract more passengers to Copenhagen, for the benefit of tourism, business and employment in the city and in the entire region”, according to the airport company. Shares in Copenhagen declined 5.2% yesterday.
Meanwhile in Europe, shares in Switzerland’s gategroup dipped 0.8% yesterday, despite an announcement that its brands in North America have awarded airline contracts totaling nearly CHF200 million (EUR141 million) over the three to five-year terms of the agreements, equally spread across new and existing business. The agreements cover a mix of US and international carriers and include gategroup brands Gate Gourmet, Pourshins, Supplair, deSter, eGate Solutions and Gate Safe. Details include:
- Virgin Atlantic Airways: Awarded the in-flight catering and provisioning business for all ten of its US gateways to Gate Gourmet, with Pourshins and Supplair to handle sourcing, distribution and warehousing of unique food and beverage service concepts. The three-year agreement, effective May-2010, covers Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York JFK, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington-Dulles;
- American Airlines: Gate Gourmet will continue to provide catering and provisioning services to American at Los Angeles. Pourshins also continues to provide supply chain solutions;
- Swiss International Airlines: Gate Gourmet has been awarded the airline catering services business for the carrier's new route to San Francisco, and for new and existing business in Boston and Chicago O’Hare, respectively;
- Kuwait Airways: Gate Gourmet recently commenced catering Kuwait Airways at New York JFK International Airport;
- Aer Lingus: Gate Gourmet recently launched catering for Aer Lingus at Washington Dulles and Chicago:
- JetBlue: eGate Solutions' TS4 onboard retail technology solution is being implemented systemwide by JetBlue;
- Cargo: Gate Safe's expansion into the US cargo screening market continues with several new customers, including Cargo Airport Services USA.
Selected airports daily share price movements (% change): 31-Mar-2010


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Jam rockers Umphrey’s McGee will hit Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO this weekend, spending July 2nd and 3rd at the famed venue over the holiday weekend. With support from a host of great artists, including Dweezil Zappa and Sinkane on night one and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and The Main Squeeze on night two, fans are in for two incredible nights of music.For those who can’t make it out to Red Rocks, UM has you covered. The band is teaming with TourGigs to present live streams for both nights, offering single show and two-show bundles here. There will also be looping playbacks for each stream, so you can get your UM fill for hours after each show, as well as On Demand viewings for 14 days after the shows.“We like to pull out the stops in Colorado,” writes Umphrey’s in a statement, “and these two nights will be no different.” We can’t wait.
BOONE, Iowa – Transponders are required again for all Modified and Stock Car competitors at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.The electronic scoring devices will be used in all races for the two divisions Wednesday through Saturday, Sept. 7-10.Drivers will be able to use their own MyLaps/ABM compatible transponder at Boone Speedway or rent one for $30 for the week. Transponders will be available in the pre-tech inspection tent and a driver’s license or credit card will be held for deposit.Transponders will also be required for the Thursday, Sept. 8 Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model main event, qualifying and last-chance features on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for Hobby Stocks and Northern SportMods, and Saturday main events for SportMods and Hobby Stocks.The devices will be installed at no charge to those drivers.MyLaps remains the official timing and scoring system of IMCA and Super Nationals.
He says it’ll still be a tough game…Throw-in is at 2 o’clock on Sunday afternoon in Semple Stadium.Tipp FM will have live coverage of the game in association with Cleary Motors Renault – Thurles Tipp senior footballers don’t fear anyone in Semple Stadium, according to one player.The Premier face Connacht champions, and promotion favourites, Roscommon on Sunday afternoon in Semple Stadium.Jack Kennedy says they’ve now got the strength and depth in the panel to ensure there are subs available to improve the team if someone isn’t performing.
The Crime & Investigation Network has secured carriage on the ‘n’ platform in Poland. The deal comes after the A+E Networks channel secured carriage on the Cyfrowy Polsat pay TV service last year. The ‘n’ deal means that the channel is now in five million Polish homes.Tom Davidson, managing director at A+E Networks UK, said: “Poland is a major TV market in Europe and extending distribution for our channel portfolio is a key priority for our business. We have ambitious growth plans for this market.”A+E says that, globally, the Crime & Investigation Network is now available in 98 million homes.
European broadcasting firm Modern Times Group (MTG) reported its fifth consecutive quarter of revenue growth in Q4, after a “year of investment” in the areas of content, digital and geographic expansion.Announcing its quarterly and full-year earnings, MTG said that its investments were “paying off in accelerated growth” and listed its buyout of Nice Entertainment Group and launch of channels for the first time in Turkey and Tanzania among its performance highlights for Q4.“We delivered the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating sales growth with 14% constant FX growth in Q4, and 8% growth for the full year. We achieved record sales growth levels for our emerging market free-TV and pay-TV operations in 2013 and now face tough comps in what continue to be soft advertising markets,” said MTG president and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann.“Our Scandinavian free-TV operations have returned to growth, and our Nordic pay-TV business has continued to benefit from strong overall subscriber growth and rising prices. We are investing further in 2014 and always looking for opportunities to accelerate the momentum in the business.”Overall the firm reported net sales of SEK4.08 billion (€465 million) in the quarter and SEK14.1 billion for the full year. However net income for the quarter and full year were both down, coming in at SEK261 million and SEK1.17 billion respectively.In the last quarter MTG said the Swedish and Danish TV advertising markets were both stable, while the Norwegian TV ad market showed low levels of growth.The firm benefitted from Viaplay subscriber growth and rising average revenue per premium satellite subscriber, though MTG said that operating costs “increased significantly” due to the ongoing investments in premium movie and sports content.In free-TV emerging markets, sales for MTG’s combined Baltic operations were stable in the quarter, while its Czech operations reported 22% sales growth. MTG attributed the latter to its ongoing advertising sales cooperation with TV Barrandov, underlying sales growth and the launch of Prima ZOOM.Bulgarian sales were up 37% in the quarter, though sales fort its Hungarian operations were down 3%.“We are totally focused on our customers and the creation of engaging and exciting entertainment experiences, which is why we have acquired even more premium sports and movie rights, further expanded our agreements with leading content producers and distributors, and launched so many more channels and services on so many different networks and platforms,” said Lindemann.The earnings come in the same week that DTVE’s sister publication, TBI, reported that MTG is tipped to beat rivals to an agreement to buy into the fast-growing international channels group, Trace.
Netflix has appointed Credit Suisse’s former head of US media and internet equity research, Spencer Wang, as vice-president of finance and investor relations. “This is an industry I followed closely during my time as a media and internet equity analyst on Wall Street, and I’m looking forward to telling the Netflix story to the investment community,” said Wang.“With the massive change reshaping the video business, it’s great to be part of the team at the forefront of this amazing evolution.”


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The total U.S. online grocery market posted $9.3 billion in sales during January as more than 69.7 million U.S. households placed on average 2.8 orders across delivery, pickup and ship-to-home according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey fielded Jan. 28-31, 2021.
The delivery and pickup segment captured $7.1 billion in January 2021, accounting for 77% of all online grocery spending during the month.
Total sales grew 15% in January 2021 vs. November 2020, driven largely by a 16% increase in the number of households buying online. Among the total household monthly active users, 78% engaged with either a delivery or pickup service – up from 64% in November.
The ship-to-home usage rate dropped from 56% to 46% during the same period. Even with this growth, January’s overall usage rate fell short of the record 76.7 million households who shopped online in April 2020 when much of the U.S. was living under stay-at-home orders.
While the average number of total online grocery orders placed by monthly active users for January 2021 remained at 2.8, essentially flat versus November 2020, the delivery and pickup segment collectively gained nearly six percentage points of order share, accounting for 66% of all online orders completed during January 2021.
The average order value decreased nearly 11% in January 2021 versus November 2020 when analyzing the aggregated spend rates across all three segments (pickup, delivery, and ship-to-home).
The strong gains in the total number of households shopping online during January were tempered by sharp declines in the leading indicator “likelihood to use a specific service again,” which measures the share of customers who are extremely or very likely to place another online order with the same provider within the next month.
The overall satisfaction metric dropped to 56% in January, down more than 32 percentage points from the record high ratings level in November 2020; the pickup segment had the greatest decline (35 points) during the period.
“Even though many grocers remain capacity constrained – especially with pickup – others are growing market share as they staff up or expand pickup to a larger store base,” explained David Bishop, partner, Brick Meets Click.
“While throwing more labor at the issue isn’t ideal, this, along with improving assembling productivities via enhanced pick and pack practices, is vital to remaining competitive in the near term and not inadvertently giving your customer a reason to shop elsewhere.”
January’s drop in repeat intent scores can be partially explained by shifts in the customer mix, but retail conditions are also a factor.
Compared to November levels, the share of first-time customers climbed by three percentage points overall and more than six points for pickup in January 2021. This first-time customer group has consistently reported lower intent rates in past surveys. In addition, retail conditions are causing a decrease in satisfaction levels among even the more experienced customer cohort; intent-to-repeat for this group dropped by almost 18 points in January compared to November.
Brick Meets Click defines first-time customers as shoppers that place their first order with a specific service within the last three months, and “experienced” customers as those who made at least four orders with a service over the last three months.
“It’s clear from the data that retailers will face a challenge in holding on to a lot of online shoppers as experience is not meeting expectations,” said Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO, Mercatus.
“To remain competitive with mass merchandisers, regional grocers need to enhance the digital shopping experience so as not to give their customers a reason to spend their money elsewhere. Grocers have to look at where they can improve operationally, how they can efficiently scale to meet online demand, and which services will be most effective at revenue protection going forward.”
A more extensive summary of the January 2021 research insights is available from Brick Meets Click via subscription to the eGrocery Insights Program. To purchase a single-month or three-month subscription, please visit brickmeetclick.com.
About this consumer research
Brick Meets Click conducted the survey on Jan. 28-31, 2021 with 1,776 adults, 18 years and older, who participated in the household’s grocery shopping. Results were adjusted based on internet usage among U.S. adults to account for the non-response bias associated with online surveys. Responses are geographically represented of the U.S. and were weighted by age to reflect the national population of adults, 18 years and older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Brick Meets Click used a similar methodology in terms of design, timing, and sampling for each of the surveys conducted throughout 2020: Nov. 11-14 (n=2,067), Aug. 24-26 (n=1,817), June 24-25 (n=1,781), May 20-22 (n=1,724), April 22-24 (n= 1,651), and March 23-25 (n=1,601).
About Brick Meets Click
Brick Meets Click is an analytics and strategic insight firm that connects today’s grocery business with tomorrow’s needs. Our clear thinking and practical solutions help clients make their strategies and customer offers more compelling and relevant in the changing U.S. grocery market. We bring deep industry expertise, knowledge of what’s coming next, and fact-based analysis to the challenge of finding new routes to success.
Mercatus is the authoritative voice for food retailers who want to strengthen their relationship with shoppers in a digital space. We help leading grocers get back in charge of their eCommerce experience, empowering them to deliver exceptional branded omnichannel shopping experiences end-to-end, from store-to-door. Our expansive network of more than 50 integration partners allows grocers to work with their partners of choice, on their terms. Together, we empower clients to create authentic digital shopping experiences with solutions to drive shopper engagement, grow share of wallet and profitability, and quickly adapt to changes in consumer behavior. The Mercatus Integrated Commerce platform is used by leading North American retailers, including Weis Markets, Save Mart brands, Brookshire’s Grocery Company brands, WinCo Foods, Smart & Final and others. Mercatus is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Source: Blue Book Services


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BTC is actually coming to the end of one of the biggest years in its brief history.
The bitcoin price has surged through 2020, reclaiming its 2017 all-time highs after finding support from Wall Street and some of the world’s biggest investors.
Right now, with the bitcoin as well as cryptocurrency society looking ahead to a slew of developments in 2021 – like the much-anticipated launch of Facebook’s bitcoin inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry defining U.S. cryptocurrency laws – Wall Street huge Wells Fargo WFC +1.5 % has said it expects to be “discussing the digital resource space more” next year.
“Over the older twelve years, [bitcoin and cryptocurrencies] have risen from virtually nothing to $560 billion in market capitalization,” John LaForge, head of natural asset strategy at Wells Fargo, wrote in an investment strategy report this week.
Bitcoin And Crypto Brace For A European Central Bank Bombshell
An additional Crypto Skeptic Suddenly Flips To Bitcoin – But Adds A Stark Warning “Fads don’t usually last twelve years. There are good arguments for this – reasons that each investor must hear. As we roll into 2021, we will be talking about the digital asset room more – its upside and downside.”
LaForge pointed to bitcoin’s 170 % gain this season – “that’s in addition to the ninety % gain it’d in 2019” – naming cryptocurrency investing as “a bit like living in the early days of the 1850’s gold rush, which involved more speculating over investing.”
And speculative interest from standard investors, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have seen a surge in take up from the likes of payments giants PayPal and Square this year – something that’s likely to have an impact in 2021.
“2021 definitely centers around continual advancements in continuity between standard marketplaces and crypto markets,” Pierce Crosby, general manager at financial data business TradingView, said via email.
“A best example would be Square’s SQ +4.9 % bitcoin offering or maybe PayPal’s PYPL +2.2 % payment by crypto. There’s a lot of such use cases for crypto, and then we expect these to expand rapidly in the coming season. Trading will still be reflective of this particular adoption curve; the taller the adoption, the more bullish the overall trading blend is going to be, which is a bullish bottom case for the main crypto assets.”
Bitcoin‘s volatility took “center stage” this season in accordance with Crosby, with the bitcoin priced falling to lows of about $4,000 per bitcoin during the March coronavirus crash before sharply rebounding, but added it’s “almost impossible to pass around the’ Summer of DeFi,’ which echoed the primary coin offering (ICO) boom back in 2017.”
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by worth after bitcoin, has soared by 300 % during the last twelve months amid a flurry of interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) – utilizing crypto expertise to recreate conventional monetary instruments such as loans as well as insurance with a lot of DeFi projects built in addition to the ethereum network.
“From the trading perspective, majority of the year’s focus has been on yield and structured items, we have observed a big wave of futures products and choices products come to market, and it’s likely more will follow soon,” Crosby said.
“We have seen several of the’ edge case’ crypto-assets become mainstream also, which should remain in the new year.”


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Marchionne: top-selling U.S. Fiat dealers to get first batch of Alfas
DETROIT Jan 13 (Reuters) - The head of Fiat SpA said on Monday that the company's top-performing U.S. dealers will get the first tranche of Alfa Romeo vehicles when the sporty Italian brand is reintroduced to the U.S. market this spring.
Speaking at the Detroit auto show, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said a second Alfa model will come to the United States in 2015 but he did not say which one.
The first model scheduled to appear in Fiat showrooms - the 4C - will be the first Alfa Romeo to be sold in the United States in nearly two decades.
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Congratulations to Poojan Kumar, Satyam Vaghani and the rest of the PernixData team for raising a great Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins.
At Lightspeed, we are very proud of what the team has achieved in short 15 months since inception. As the founding investor board member I have witnessed first hand an enterprise innovation at Instagram speed. PernixData’s innovative Flash Virtualization Platform (FVP) disrupts the storage market by enabling virtualized datacenters to take advantage of decoupled storage performance from raw capacity. With PernixData’s FVP, companies no longer need to purchase capacity from storage vendors when they need performance. This radical design promises to not only solve the storage performance problem, but also ensures that enterprises can scale out their performance as easily as they scale their compute and memory, without any need to change applications or storage infrastructure.
With more than 30 employees and growing, PernixData has over 50 customers in its beta program globally and is preparing for a public release of the product in the next few months. We believe that customers and partners have been waiting for a solution such as FVP, which positions PernixData to capitalize on a huge opportunity in the enterprise storage market.
If you found this post interesting follow me on Twitter @bipulsinha


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03:00 PM, Monday, October 05
October has arrived with its crisp autumn mornings and promise of upcoming holiday celebrations. Pumpkins already are arriving in stores and front lawns, including the First United Methodist Church’s annual pumpkin patch which sets up on Sunday af...
Chase warehouse will add some 200 jobs, $9.5 million annua...
03:00 PM, Friday, November 12full story
Success of Veterans Wall helps recall our great debt
03:00 PM, Wednesday, November 10full story
Political season, policies and garage sales: there’s a reason
03:00 PM, Wednesday, October 27full story
Extremely capable candidates running in area, county races
03:00 PM, Wednesday, October 20full story