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Rep. Bass Hosts Webinar For Hundreds of Small Business Owners
May 7, 2020
LOS ANGELES - Today, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) hosted a webinar for small business owners in her district. The event focused on resources available to combat the losses inflicted by the COVID-19 epidemic. You can watch the entire program below.


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Chinese companies have emerged as the world leader in titanium wire production with the creation of an aluminium and steel line for the first time in its history.
In a move that is sure to make the world of technology and electronics industry explode, the state-owned steelmaker Steel Development Co. Ltd.
has started production of titanium rods for use in its titanium wire products.
The Chinese government has also taken a strong stance on the matter of the steel industry in the country, and is expected to set a firm price for the production of the metal in the coming months.
Titanium rods, which are used in the production and distribution of various consumer electronics products, are widely used for industrial and construction purposes in China.
The titanium wire used in these products is produced by two different companies, Steel Development and Aluminum Steel Co., Ltd.
According to a press release issued by the government of the Chinese People’s Republic of China on Tuesday, the new titanium wire is an aluminium alloy that is used in aluminium, steel and glass manufacturing.
The government said that it will purchase titanium wire from the two companies at the market price.
The total value of the purchase will be 5 trillion yuan ($85 billion).
The announcement was made at the World Titanium Industry Forum in Beijing.
The event was held in partnership with the China Titanium Industry Association.
The three-day conference brought together a range of industry leaders from various sectors of the industry.
It is understood that the government will take a hard stance against steel production in China after a number of incidents including a deadly fire in 2011 at the Tianjin Steel plant, which led to the death of more than 400 workers.
The authorities in China have been cracking down on steel exports since then, but the country still imports nearly three-quarters of the world steel supply, the World Steel Association reported.
In addition, the government has cracked down on the sale of aluminium products.
In December, the People’s Bank of China said that the country would require the use of aluminum in all consumer products by 2020.

domain: news


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It's no secret that Samsung is working on the Galaxy S11, with probable forecast for February 2019. As the date approaches, new rumors of the handset include 108MP sensor and a new solution for night photography called "Bright Night Sensor". " What's new is images of the top and bottom of the device, demonstrated by leaker Ice Universe through his Twitter profile @UniverseIce.
The front panel of the handset shows a curved screen and gives an indication of what we can expect from taking advantage of the handset screen by the black border surrounding the part. Highlight the circle in the center of the screen at the top, separate space for the front camera.
According to previous leaks, the expected Samsung Galaxy S11 Plus with five cameras in the rear organized in L-shape, we still do not know the lenses that will mark presence in the camera system, but it seems to have at least one wide angle and one telephoto lens besides the main one.
Images show that Samsung GalaxyS11 Plus have five cameras on the back
The phone should also come in versions with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990, ensuring top of the line performance. As reported here on the site, the Exynos 990 should consume 50% less power than previous model. As a GPU, the phone should feature a Mali-G77 MP11, as the Exynos 5123 as a modem. The processor should be able to process video captures at up to 8k HDR at 30 frames per second or 4K HDR at 150 frames per second.
Following the trend of top-of-the-line smartphones, the S11 family is expected to bring a 120Hz refresh rate screen, offering more picture fluency and navigation. To learn more about the Samsung phone, keep an eye on the tag here on the site.
Source: Ice Universe


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This is where most people are going on holidays this summer.
A new survey of 7,000 people has found Irish people love going to Spain more than anywhere else this summer.
The second most popular place Irish people like to go is the USA followed by Portugal, France and Italy.
While a lot of people are still making up their minds where to go this summer others plan to stay in Ireland.
AA Director of Consumer Affairs, Conor Faughnan said:
‘While more and more of us seem likely to spend our holidays abroad this year, there’s no doubt that they remain a luxury for us all and particularly for younger people who may be less financially secure.
‘Because we view trips abroad as a luxury there can be a temptation to cut costs wherever possible, but the one thing we would advise holiday-goers to never cut is travel insurance.
‘As much as we like to believe it will never happen to us, flights do get cancelled and hotel rooms do get broken into. Having travel cover in place may mean spending a little more in the short-term but could help you avoid shelling out a fortune in the future.’


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Unless you’re obsessed with status symbols, Timex makes every bit of the timepieces you could possibly need. There’s no better return for you dollar on a watch, which makes it an ideal partner for the indie record label Ghostly.
After releasing an “indestructible” backpack earlier this year, is back with another utilitarian piece to subtly show your support for the electronic music label. The two brands have collaborated on Timex’s Allied 40mm, a diving watch that’s affordable as it is sleek.
Ghostly’s signature shade of purple is almost nowhere to be seen on the timepiece, appearing only on the crown in normal conditions and on the dial’s glow-in-the-dark marking when cast in the shadows. “Ghostly International” circles the dial, the label’s ghost logo also appears in tiny form just beneath the “12.”
We love subtle — If you think electronic music-related accessories, the first thing that comes to mind is kandi, the purposefully tacky bracelets traded amongst concert-goers. Ghostly’s Timex provides a much more understated way to wear your love of the genre, a decision label founder Sam Valenti IV explained in a press release.
“We wanted to lend our purple brand color and our Ghostly Gothic font to infuse the watch with our character, but the watch is meant to blend in,” Valenti said. “It is hopefully a watch people can wear with anything and maybe keeps your phone out of a sight a little while longer.
The specs — The 40mm watch comes in a low lead brass with a matte black finish. And if you’re interested in precise measurements, the Ghostly Allied has a 20mm width with a height of 11mm. A black fabric strap with leather trim will keep it affixed to your wrist, and it’ll remain waterproof up to a depth of 50 meters. Rounding out the features is a light-up dial, which is much less bothersome in the dark than checking your phone for the time.
Ghostly and Timex’s Allied will release tomorrow through the former’s website as of right now. It’ll only set you back $99, as good of a deal as any for Timex’s ever-reliable timepieces.
This article was originally published on


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It’s no longer ‘Power to you’. Vodafone is now asking the question: ‘The future is exciting. Ready?’ in the newest iteration of its endline, which will be rolled out tomorrow (6 October) alongside a new 2D logo across its largest ever global campaign.
The creative focuses on the evolution of the telecoms brand and communications at large, taking the viewer on a journey through calling up operators in the 1960s to picking up the heavy bricks of the 1980s. The bulk of the film, however, concentrates on the future – the key focus of Vodafone’s repositioning.
Orange once said that ‘The future’s bright’ but for Vodafone, in a strapline almost uncomfortably close to its once-rival, the future is going to be ‘exciting’. The ‘Ready?’ (always to be followed by a question mark) is, according to the group’s chief commercial operations and strategy officer, Serpil Timuray, “not about questioning the readiness" but "an invitation for everyone to embark on this exciting journey ahead, and to enjoy the benefits of future technologies”.
‘The future is exciting’ will be translated into each market’s language, however ‘Ready?’ will remain in English on each strapline. The campaign will be rolled out across all of the countries in which Vodafone operates – 36 to be exact.
After yet another week of global crises, Vodafone’s peppy optimism may be hard to swallow. However the brand’s new strategy and creative has been rigorously tested – ‘quantitative and qualitative inputs’ from nearly 30,000 people across 17 countries gave it the go-ahead.
The positioning was also thoroughly researched. The network commissioned YouGov to conduct an opinion poll of almost 13,000 people in 14 countries in order to review the extent to which the public are optimistic – or pessimistic – about their future prospects. The market research firm found that, despite the multiple global threats rearing their heads across the globe, respondents of all age groups believe ‘their own living standards, and those of children, will have improved 20 years from now’, and that people of all ages believe that ‘technology innovation will have the most positive influence on the future over the next 20 years’.
Timuray contends that the new campaign did not come from Vodafone working backwards from a creative hook, or backing up the initiative's commercial efficacy with data retrospectively.
“This was not something that we went into with an agenda,” Timuray told The Drum. “We wanted to understand what the future aspirations are of different cultures and what their attitude to all this technology is.
“We were positively encouraged to see that there is a general consensus that people are optimistic about the future, despite some of the pressing issues we are facing in different markets. People are in general more optimistic than not and … we found technology is one of the levers of optimism because people are already seeing the benefits of technology in their lives and how their lives are changing.”
‘Hello!’, the campaign’s flagship ad, was produced by Ridley Scott Associates and devised by Vodafone’s bespoke Gloval Team Red agency assemblage from WPP, led by Santo. As a diverse mix of people around the world discover the power of new technologies, such as the internet of things and wearable tech, changing by Sigma featuring Paloma Faith provides the soundtrack – an interesting choice seeing as the song was first used in HSBC’s Apple Pay ad back in 2015.
As a global brand, however, it is the universal visuals that tell the story. Was it difficult to create a spot that would not only make sense in – but resonate with – consumers in 36 countries?
“It really wasn’t,” said Sara Oliveira, Vodafone’s global head of brand and media, “because it was co-created with the markets. We could have picked one leader market and done all the consumer research there, but that was not our approach at all. We did research in 10 markets and I think this is the beauty of the whole process. There were more similarities between the markets than we were expecting.
“All over the world … people were saying: ‘We want a brand who will partner with us on this journey [into the future]’. And it was this partnership that we then tried to bring out in all of the advertising.”
The ad barely features a mobile phone at all, signifying Vodafone’s serious intentions to be known not as an heritage telecoms firm, but as a brand ready to guide consumers through tech revolutions in the future it’s so excited about. Yet it’s still sticking to its roots in the human voice with a modern day iteration of its speech mark logo, rendered in 2D rather than the 3D of the past, and graphically overlaid over all of B2C and B2B communications and marketing.
Vodafone came under some professional fire at the press conference held to announce the brand news. Its reps were pulled to task on the network’s less than perfect record of customer service (earlier this year, for instance, Vodafone was jointly rated the UK’s worst mobile phone provider by Which?) and asked if the campaign represented "a fresh start for Vodafone".
Not answering the question entirely, Timuray responded: "We recognise that our UK operation has gone through some challenges, but thanks to our Customer Experience Excellence programme we have been significantly improving our customer experience. We are now at an all time low for scores regarding some of the customer operations metrics issues and we will keep progressing on that."
Not all consumers and marketers will buy into the optimism of ‘The future is exciting. Ready?’ But the messaging and new campaign will, at least, serve as an interesting, futuristic distraction while the brand irons out kinks in its current form as a good old fashioned mobile phone network.


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Created in 2005, with offices in 30 countries, Believe Digital has become the global independent market leader in distributing music and video to online streaming and download services following its recent acquisition of TuneCore. The company’s international presence, digital marketing expertise, its capacity for technical innovation and transparency are being leveraged by independent artists and labels who desire to make the most of their music in a global digital world.
The company is also one of the largest multi-channel networks for video distribution with over 3 billion views per month.
The backing of TCV, a highly respected investment firm with a deep knowledge of the digital music and video space, and the increased investment from XAnge, a historical investor in Believe Digital since 2007, as well as the investment from GP Bullhound Sidecar, and continued trust of Ventech are a statement of confidence in Believe Digital’s strategic vision and ability to execute. TCV General Partner John Rosenberg will join Believe Digital’s Board of Directors.
CEO and Founder Believe Digital Group, Denis Ladegaillerie said: “Believe Digital aims to become the global leader in digital distribution and label services; the rapid growth of digital music sales (which now surpass CD sales in many countries) is contributing to making Believe Digital and TuneCore increasingly attractive alternatives for labels and artists; the future is exciting and this capital will empower us to invest more to make our artists and labels successful, hire music, digital marketing and technology talents and explore targeted acquisition opportunities with companies that share our vision and goal.”
John Rosenberg from TCV stated: “New distribution channels and digital marketing services are reshaping the global music industry. Through technological innovation and a highly disruptive and transparent business model, Believe Digital has become a powerful force in the global music industry, enabling independent labels and artists to capitalize on these emerging trends. We are delighted to support Denis and his team as they continue their impressive journey.”
Rodolphe Ménégaux from XAnge: “Believe has become a leader in the digital music industry; we are very proud to be an early investor and continue investing in such a fast growing company. Believe has recently made an impressive step forward in consolidating the industry with the acquisition of TuneCore; we are delighted to support Denis and his team in this new market phase to build the leading global independent player in the industry.“
Believe Digital counts among its many clients such companies as World Circuit, Nettwerk Records, Planet Records, Green United Music, One Little Indian, Hospital Records, Xtra Mile Recordings and Southern Record Distribution. It is also privileged to work with many talented artists including Chinese Man, James Vincent McMorrow, Breton, Gavin James, The 2 Bears, Public Service Broadcasting, Queen, Monty Python, Deep Purple and many others.
The company recently acquired leading DIY distribution service tunecore.com, which provides access to online music services for all emerging artists. TuneCore brings more music to more people, while helping musicians and songwriters increase money-earning opportunities and take charge of their own careers. The company has one of the highest artist revenue-generating music catalogs in the world, earning TuneCore artists $541 million from over 15.2 billion downloads and streams since inception.


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Articles Tagged ‘Aldo Group’
Aldo taps new agency partners
The company separates PR mandates for its two major banners as it pursues an omnichannel approach.
Aldo steps up its tech experience
A heavily connected location in New York signals the kinds of experiences that will soon be available across its retail network.
Little Burgundy to be acquired
U.S. retailer Genesco is set to buy the Montreal-based footwear chain from Aldo Group.


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U.S. processor Vantiv and London-based Worldpay have reached agreement on the terms of their proposed merger, the companies announced today (August 9).
The combination of the two companies will result in a massive global payments powerhouse that will go by the name Worldpay.
The transaction values Worldpay at $12 billion.
The new company, which will be valued at $28.8 billion, will process $1.5 trillion in payments volume with 40 billion annually, according to the announcement. It handles more than 300 payment methods and 126 currencies across 146 countries.
“This is a merger of two world class payment companies, which will create a global omni-commerce leader, with substantial opportunities to capitalize on the rapid evolution of payments,” Philip Jansen, chief executive officer of Worldpay, said in a release.
“The growth of eCommerce and the way consumers expect to transact is increasing complexity for businesses around the world. Our unique combination of scale, innovation, technology, and global presence will mean that we can offer more payment solutions to businesses, whether large or small, global or local, enabling them to meet consumers’ increasing demands and helping them prosper,” he said.
Corporate headquarters for the new Worldpay will be in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Vantiv is currently based. London will house the company’s international headquarters.
The companies expect the merger to close in early 2018.


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We’ve told you all about The Stutz’ major redevelopment project — and now the newly revamped space is getting ready to host three seasonal markets for the first time this holiday season.
Shoppers can expect ~40-60 vendors selling bath and body products, jewelry, art, vintage clothing, and specialty foods in the historic building’s new Car Museum, VisionLoft Events, and outdoor courtyard spaces. There will also be special features like holiday decor, vintage cars (1929 Stutz Dual Cowl Phaeton and 1933 Stutz DV32 Hollywood Sedan), photo booths, a break dancing competition, an ugly sweater workshop, and live music.
Barista Parlor, Amelia’s Bakery, and Taqueria de Julieta — all new Stutz ground floor tenants — will be participating in the Winter Markets.
Here are the deets:
- Six Ways Market — November 26-27
- Chromatic Collective — Saturday, Dec. 3
- Amanda’s Market — Saturday, Dec. 10
- Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Parking: $3 in lots + limited free street parking


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Article from Kids in Danger
Each year, KID commemorates our progress, honors the memory of Danny Keysar and other victims of unsafe children’s products, and highlights the contributions of our Best Friend — someone who has helped keep children safe.
KID is delighted to present our 2014 Best Friend Award to Inez Tenenbaum, former CPSC Chair, for her strong voice for children’s product safety.
Tenenbaum was nominated in 2009 by President Barack Obama and has led the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) since then. During her tenure at CPSC, Tenenbaum oversaw the implementation of Congress’ 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which included the requirement of mandatory standards for a number of infant and toddler durable products. That section was named after KID’s founders’ son, Danny Keysar and is often referred to as “Danny’s Law.” Further, she helped to ensure that as of 2011, all cribs sold in the US will have to meet some of the toughest crib standards in the world.
Consumer protection has always been at the foundation of Tenenbaum’s career of service to children and families, and her efforts have greatly improved the safety of children. We honor her with the Best Friend Award on May 14th.


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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Procter & Gamble Co. became the first corporate inductee to the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame on March 25, and while it's a big honor, it could be seen as a mixed blessing. After all, the other inductees are retired, and many have been honored posthumously, while P&G still considers itself very much in the game.
In an interview with Advertising Age prior to the induction, P&G Chairman-CEO Bob McDonald said avoiding the trap of leaning too heavily on the company's marketing legacy is one thing that keeps him up at night. Increased focus on digital marketing, he said, is one of the keys to P&G's strategy to remain a leading marketer.
Another key is bringing the power of multiple brands together into umbrella marketing efforts, and Global Brand-Building Officer Marc Pritchard said P&G appears to have gotten better return on investment from its corporate branding effort around the Winter Olympics than from many individual brand efforts.
Such multi-brand campaigns long have been the promise behind P&G's regional market-development organizations, such as the North American one headed by Group President-North America Melanie Healey. And in short order following the Winter Olympics, she's leading another group effort, P&G's "Future Friendly" green-marketing campaign that unites multiple brands. Despite the recession, consumer demand for more sustainable products isn't abating, Ms. Healey said, but she said the mainstream consumers P&G is targeting with its campaign also don't want to sacrifice performance.
Ms. Healey's group also heads media planning and buying operations for P&G, and a year after the company took advantage of a soft recessionary media market to drive down costs, she said it retains hopes of getting better pricing once again going into the upcoming TV upfront.


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As part of Port Technology International’s exclusive series with INFORM, Matthew Wittemeier, Director of Marketing and Sales at INFORM’s Terminal & Distribution Logistics Division, sat down with Carla Grifo, Global Innovation, Systems & Technology Senior Manager at DP World.
The experts explored what the future, near and far, might hold for the industry.
In INFORM’s first 2038: Future Visions of 2022, Grifo offers valuable insights about how ports can make way for new technology and how it’s likely to affect efficiency, sustainability, and employment in maritime.
Starting from the year 2020, Matthew and Carla explored the BoxBay concept from DP World – a transformative vertical stacking system which has the potential to revolutionise container management in terminals.
“BoxBay has absolutely become a reality, and with it, the ability to bring automation at an entirely new level to the industry,” Grifo noted.
By 2030, the duo broached the topic of sustainability progress – and what success looks like in eight years’ time.
“What I really hope… is that environmental measures will be addressed seriously by ,” Grifo posited.
“I’m also involved in looking at decarbonistion for our industry. A lot of measures can have a serious impact as opposed to just saying, ‘Okay, electrification’ — they can go far beyond that. Trends related to the environment are the ones that need to be taken seriously now and will already be impactful by 2030.”
By the year 2038, Carla highlighted the emerging demand for a multi-skilled talent pipeline; break siloes, and improve communication – especially amongst human beings in our industry.
What is 2038: Future Vision?
2038: Future Visions is a series of interviews from leading maritime logistics professionals who share their view of what the future of our industry will look like in the year 2038. It is brought to you in partnership with Port Technology. 2038: Future Visions builds on the award-winning book 2038: A Smart Port Story Inform published in 2019.
What is 2038: A Smart Port Story?
2038: A Smart Port Story explores the terminal of the future and the intricacies of technology and its impact on both the port industry and society. Join Douglas as he unravels the mystery around an incident at the Port of Reykjavik, which sees an AGV collide with a human leaving their life hanging perilously in the balance.


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If you’ve been following tech websites recently, you will have heard a lot about application stores and applications over the last year. Apple did it and everyone followed. Developers have made money and customers have enjoyed a huge range of software solutions. A year ago, Intel announced that they too were getting into the app-store game. With 30 million netbooks out there and a clear strategy to push into TV, smartphones and cars, it wasn’t a bad idea at all. Last week Intel took us to San Francisco to get an update on the progress so far.
Since last year we’ve seen some progress by the teams to roll out a client to Windows and to seed some apps by offering prizes for new apps. They’ve also seen progress in the netbook market which has now grown to 70M with another projected 40M to come on top of that in the next year. They’ve also seen the tablet opportunities take off as Apple proved that it could actually be a successful form factor. Clearly Intel are doubling-up their efforts too as we experienced an unprecedented amount of marketing for a software product. Keynote mentions, an AppUp store in the high street (the former Sony Style store no less) and an additional 2-day conference dedicated to everything AppUp. Full disclosure must be given at this point â€“ we had a fantastic time at the ‘Elements’ social event on Wednesday!
So it looks like AppUp is getting the support from within Intel but does it really stand a chance? Do we need software store on Windows? Possibly not but AppUp is a bit more than just a repository and spreads further than just netbooks.
Key Features of AppUp
- Write native code â€“ C++, QT
- Assistance for porting iPhone apps is available (Angry Birds is coming soon!)
- Write Flex apps (Adobe flash or Adobe Air)
- Silverlight support is being worked on
- Intel are managing the payment back-end
- Intel are managing the app authorisation
- There will be multiple branded and tailored stores. (We’re hearing that there could be 10 or more by the end of the year.)
- Tailored stores do not have to show a complete catalogue
- Intel are introducing a curation system where partners can highlight good apps. (this could extend to community members)
- Sega, Konami, Unity and other game creators are on board
- Device manufacturers are on board (Asus and Samsung will distribute the store with netbooks)
- Device distributors are on board (Best-Buy, Currys and others have announced they will promote the app store)
- The future includes media distribution
- The future includes affiliation schemes (this is a killer feature in my opinion)
- The hardware platforms we’ve seen so far are blowing away anything you’ll see on a smartphone in 2010.
AppUp is out of beta and available for Windows and Moblin (MeeGo coming soon.) You can download it here.
Over and above all that, there’s a significant point to note â€“ this isn’t just a Windows-based product. Intel are pitching this as a value-add feature for MeeGo too and that means tablets, smart devices, smartphones, Smart TV, Google TV, MeeGo TV and products like Boxee that have announced they will ship a product on Intel Atom. Total addressable market for AppUp is quoted as about 500 million end user devices by end of 2013. With sales of netbooks due to reach 200M by that time I’d personally put it much higher. Develop today and you could be looking at some serious opportunities by end of 2011. I’m not joking when I say that i’m seriously looking at going back into writing software!
It looks like Intel will have enough installed user-base before mid-2011 and with Intel’s marketing power and a big number of manufacturers and retail partners will solve the problem of activating those end-users. They also seem to be on track to seed applications by offering an easy route for porting from existing platforms. The Adobe Air route is almost too simple and I expect to see hundreds, if not thousands of flash games being optimised over to the platform (along with a new monetisation opportunity) in no time at all.
The problem of having compelling end-user products seems to be well on its way to being solved too. I see Windows as a barrier until MeeGo products hit the market but with Intel’s Atom platforms growing to cover the 4 inch to 42 inch+ screen range, there’s a tidy set of silicon, software and solution stacks forming. We’ll see interesting products in 2011 for sure. Google TV and the current tablet craze will make sure of that.
Getting the word out to developers shouldn’t be too hard either. Once the installed user-base is in place and once a few MeeGo products are on the market it will only take the existing media channels, blogs, forums and some Intel incentives to get the developers interested. If there’s one thing thats for sure, there are a huge number of fickle devs out there just looking for the next revenue opportunity.
Guy Kawasaki, Scott Hershkowitz, Ben Parr, Loic Le Meur, Regan Fletcher at AppUp Elements
The 5 Challenges.
Challenge 1 is to seed the application store with quality applications that have been written with the end platform in mind. Right now we’re seeing apps ported over from other platforms (Windows Mobile, AIR, iPhone) to the netbook. While these apps seem to be taking the netbook screen into account, most of them are ignoring much of the screen space, processing power and graphics opportunities. I certainly didn’t see anything that blew me away at IDF and Elements.
Challenge 2 is to prevent the problem of applications appearing on the wrong platforms. An application written for MeeGo on a tablet may be looking for an accelerometer that just won’t be there on a netbook. I have no idea how AppUp will handle that.
Challenge 3 is time. iOS 4 is already making huge inroads in this area and if Apple dial-in new products, the momentum won’t stop. The same is true of Android 3.0. Application developers that have had success on these platforms may choose to concentrate on these opportunities first. Chrome OS and HTML5 is also something to watch during 2011 too.
Challenge 4 is Intel itself, While the Elements 2010 evening party was an impressive show of marketing that made me love Intel more and more during the evening, that is not going to make Intel ‘cool.’ How are they going to dial-in the magic that makes people sit up and take notice? AppUp itself is losely branded and likely to appear branded under other names but this sort of fragmentation could actually make it harder to market the solution to developers.
Challenge 5 is MeeGo and Ovi. MeeGo isn’t just an Intel project, it’s Nokia’s baby too and MeeGo for ARM could be huge. If AppUp is dropped on top of ARM MeeGo to make it even more compelling then the whole AppUp project would have bit the Intel boys in the bum. AppUp could limit itself to i86-only but even then, Ovi could come along and boost the products. Remember, ARM and Intel are playing in the same product space with Cortex and Atom,
Peter Biddle â€“ Head of AppUp Development for Intel
Exposing the Tail and Developer Feedback.
We were wined and dined, educated and stimulated by Intel in San Francisco but however long I sleep on this article I still see huge opportunities and an incredibly flexible application store framework. Curation and affiliation could be killer features and if you take a look at the slide on the right (click to enlarge) you can see that Intel sees the value in exposing the long tail. I wholeheartedly agree with that. The biggest take-away though is the feedback from the developers so far. It’s all very positive and exciting and you can experience that first hand of a video we shot at the Elements event. Check the video out [Coming Soon] and get another opinion about what’s going on here.
It looks like we’ve really got quite the challenger here. As Paul Otellini said in his keynote last week, it’s about providing computing solutions and not just silicon now. Yup, it’s all about the apps, stupid!
The AppUp client is available here.


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Mobile Internet users numbered 34.6 million in June, and 81 percent of those users had access to enhanced Internet browsing for more Web-like experiences.
The mobile Internet is growing, with over 34.6 million mobile users in June. That's according to the "U.S. Device Census Report for Q2 2006" from Telephia.
Of the 34.6 million mobile Web users, 6.5 million went to Yahoo Mail, a 3 percent reach of subscribers. The Weather Channel was accessed by 5.8 million (2.7 percent reach); ESPN received 5.3 million unique hits (2.5 percent reach); Google Search served 4.4 million unique visitors (2 percent reach); and MSN Hotmail got 3.4 million visitors (1.6 percent reach).
Other top sites serving the mobile audience include MapQuest with 3.1 million uniques and 1.4 percent reach; AOL Mail with 2.9 million uniques and 1.4 percent reach; CNN with 2.8 million uniques and 1.3 percent reach; Yahoo Weather with 2.7 million uniques and 1.3 percent reach; and Yahoo Search with 2.5 million uniques and 1.2 percent reach.
"Mobile Web usage has continued to grow over the past year, as Internet content providers continue to extend their reach into the mobile space," Bernard Brenner, director of mobile content at Telephia, said in a statement.
While several mobile Web browsers exist, Openwave is the dominant software for wireless users. It retains a 27 percent market share. Motorola's browser holds a 24 percent market share; Nokia offers a browser which maintains a 13 percent market share. Additional browsers grab up the remaining 34 percent of the handset market. The browsers include Access NetFront (9 percent); Teleca AU (6 percent); Sony Ericsson (5 percent); RIM (5 percent); Blazer (4 percent); Samsung (3 percent); Microsoft (3 percent); and Danger (2 percent).
Enhanced Internet browsing through xHTML-MP is enabled on 81 percent of handsets with browsers. The enhanced experience allows for an experience closer to a PC browsing experience.
"As xHTML-MP support becomes more widespread, mobile consumers will have greater access to richer presentation of content on their phones," said Brenner.
The report measures the combination of device features with key industry performance metrics such as device market share, application and feature usage, and user profiles. Telephia is a syndicated mobile audience performance measurement, tracking and analyzing of mobile consumption, network and manufacturer performance across Europe, the U.S. and Canada.
Twitter Canada MD Kirstine Stewart to Keynote Toronto
ClickZ Live Toronto (May 14-16) is a new event addressing the rapidly changing landscape that digital marketers face. The agenda focuses on customer engagement and attaining maximum ROI through online marketing efforts across paid, owned & earned media. Register now and save!*
*Early Bird Rates expire April 17.
Marketing Apps for Landing Pages White Paper
Marketing apps can elevate a formulaic landing page into a highly interactive user experience. Learn how to turn your static content into exciting marketing apps.
Redefining 'Mobile-Only' Users: Millions Selectively Avoid the Desktop
A new breed of selective mobile-only consumers has emerged. What are the demos of these users and how and where can marketers reach them?
March 19, 2014


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Hello and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is Alex and we are here to do our Monday show, a kicko
Parker emerged from stealth Thursday with $157 million in equity and debt funding with a corporate card for e-commerce brands.
Everyone says that dogs are a huge responsibility, but it’s hard to feel the weight of that responsibility until you own one. Dog Parker, a new startup out of ERA, is looking to take out some of
An interesting thing has happened over the years in places like New York City and San Francisco. When you walk down the street, it's difficult to find someone not wearing a t-shirt that sports a techn
 Parker for iPhone, a new app by S


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Soon, Apple’s engineers were asked to participate in monthly “invention disclosure sessions.” One day, a group of software engineers met with three patent lawyers, according to a former Apple patent lawyer who was at the meeting.
The disclosure session had yielded more than a dozen potential patents when an engineer, an Apple veteran, spoke up.
“I would like to decline to participate,” he said, according to the lawyer who was at the meeting.
The engineer explained that he did not believe companies should be allowed to own basic software concepts.
It is a complaint heard throughout the industry. The increasing push to assert ownership of broad technologies has led to a destructive arms race, engineers say. Some point to so-called patent trolls, companies that exist solely to sue over patent violations. Others say big technology companies have also exploited the system’s weaknesses.
“There are hundreds of ways to write the same computer program,” said James Bessen, a legal expert at Harvard.
And so patent applications often try to encompass every potential aspect of a new technology. When such applications are approved, Bessen said, “the borders are fuzzy, so it’s really easy to accuse others of trespassing on your ideas.”
The number of patent applications, computer-related and otherwise, filed each year at the US patent office has increased by more than 50 percent over the past decade, to more than 540,000 last year. Google has received 2,700 patents since 2000, according to the patent analysis firm M-CAM. Microsoft has received 21,000.
In the last decade, the number of patent applications submitted by Apple each year has risen almost tenfold. The company has won ownership of pinching a screen to zoom in, of using magnets to affix a cover to a tablet computer and of the glass staircases in Apple stores. It has received more than 4,100 patents since 2000, according to M-CAM.
The application by Apple that eventually became patent 8,086,604 first crossed desks at the Patent and Trademark Office on a winter day in 2004.
In the next two years, a small cast of officials spent about 23 hours — the time generally allotted for reviewing a new application — examining the three dozen pages before recommending rejection. The application, for a voice-and-text-based search engine, was “an obvious variation” on existing ideas, a patent examiner named Raheem Hoffler wrote. Over the next five years, Apple modified and resubmitted the application eight times — and each time it was rejected by the patent office.
Until last year.
On its 10th attempt, Apple got patent 8,086,604 approved. Today, though the patent was not among those Vlingo and Nuance fought over, it is known as the Siri patent because it is widely viewed as one of the linchpins of Apple’s strategy to protect its smartphone technologies.
In February, the company deployed this new patent in a continuing lawsuit against Samsung that could radically reorder the US$200 billion smartphone business by giving Apple effective ownership of now-commonplace technologies, software experts say.
Patent 8,086,604’s path to approval “shows there’s a lot wrong with the process,” said Arti Rai, an intellectual-property expert at Duke University School of Law who reviewed the patent application for the Times. That patent, like numerous others, is an example of how companies can file an application again and again until they win approval, Rai said.


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B-P-A could be found in children’s dental fillingsBy Shayna Brouker • Published: October 10th, 2012
Category: Health in a Heartbeat
Problems with plastics are showing up everywhere. Bisphenol-A, a dangerous byproduct of plastic, has been widely used in plastic products, metal food containers and even car upholstery for the past 10 years. It’s concerning because research has found that B-P-A mimics estrogen and could alter reproduction and fetal development … and perhaps even behavior in children.
A new study published in the journal Pediatrics found that a certain compound used in some children’s dental fillings is linked to behavioral problems down the road. Certain tooth-colored fillings, known as composites, that contained B-P-A were associated with more anxiety, depression and social problems in adolescents five years after they got their cavities filled. The link was stronger when the fillings were in molars, where wear-and-tear of the material is more likely.
More research is needed, and the American Dental Association says the exposure to B-P-A through fillings is still several times lower than what a child is subjected to through food and the environment. B-P-A is also found in air, dust and water.
And experts warn it’s no excuse for children not to have regular dental checkups. If anything, it’s incentive to take good care of teeth to avoid cavities in the first place. Parents should begin brushing their children’s gums and baby teeth in infancy. Beginning at age 2, children can brush with adult supervision using a pea-sized dab of toothpaste. Each brushing should last about two minutes.
As for B-P-A, the Food and Drug Administration is working to reduce the levels of the byproduct in consumer goods, especially those marketed to kids, but there are a few things you can do to reduce your exposure in the meantime. Microwave food in glass, not plastic, and choose fresh over canned whenever possible. B-P-A can be avoided.


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Once again, Elon Musk is moving markets via Twitter.
The eccentric CEO triggered a market surge in January when he revealed his company, Tesla, had invested a billion dollars in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, and had begun to accept Bitcoin payments.
However, in a dramatic U-turn, Musk has announced that Tesla will no longer be working with Bitcoin, reportedly due to its well-publicised environmental impact .
This announcement (made, of course, via a tweet) caused Bitcoin’s value to plummet , losing a quarter of its value in just a week.
Musk has now thrown his support behind Dogecoin — a “meme-based” cryptocurrency, originally created as a “joke” (according to its creators).
Read on to find out more about Elon Musk’s self-described “fav cryptocurrency” .
What is Dogecoin and how does it work?
Like Bitcoin, Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency — a form of digital money that can be bought, sold and invested, just like real money.
It was created by developers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer in 2013, as a satirical in-joke about the bizarre world of Bitcoin, and the fervour it had inspired. “Doge” is in reference to a popular meme , which features a slightly confused-looking dog.
Since its joke origins, Dogecoin has risen to become one of the fastest growing cryptocurrencies on the planet.
This is in no small part due to Musk, who has been vocal in his support for the currency, referring to himself as “the Dogefather” and declaring it ‘the future of currency.’
And every time Musk speaks out in support of Dogecoin, its price rises and rises.
What is the difference between Dogecoin and Bitcoin?
Bizarrely, there isn’t really a great deal of difference between Dogecoin and Bitcoin.
One of the main differences is that Bitcoin is only available in limited numbers. The number of Bitcoins which can exist in the world is capped at 21 million.
This is in stark contrast to Dogecoin, which has no limits. This means its prices are much lower, and its numbers are increasing rapidly every day.
This makes Bitcoin more suitable for long-term investments, similar to how one would invest in gold, or fine art.
Dogecoin may be more suitable for making a quick profit, while there’s still hype around it.
Dogecoin is also reportedly slightly more environmentally friendly than Bitcoin — but it’s worth noting that no cryptocurrencies are particularly good for the environment. Cryptocurrencies as a whole are estimated to use the same amount of energy as the annual use of a country the size of Malaysia.
What did Elon Musk tweet about Dogecoin?
In a bizarre tweet series, Musk praised Dogecoin for being less environmentally damaging and more affordable, deeming it “the people’s Crypto.”
He also announced that he is “working with Doge devs” to improve their system’s efficiency, suggesting that Doge may replace Bitcoin as Tesla’s cryptocurrency of choice.
How much is one Dogecoin?
If you’re considering investing in Dogecoin, you’re in luck — prices are fluctuating rapidly, but at time of writing, one Dogecoin is currently a very affordable $0.49 (£0.35).
If you had invested $1000 dollars in Dogecoin on Jan 1, 2021, you would currently have $85,000, so there’s big money to be made.
But if you want to get in the game, you’d better be quick — experts are warning there will be a crash very soon.


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Funcom has recently announced the newest open-world survival MMO called Dune Awakening.
Dune Awakening Has Been Unveiled
Dune Awakening was first revealed during the Opening Night Live of Gamescom 2022. According to Funcom, this is an ambitious next step for open-world survival MMOs. It will be launching on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
The Best of Both Worlds and Then Some
This upcoming MMO will be set on Arrakis and will take inspiration from both Frank Herbert’s novels and Denis Villenueve’s Academy Award-winning film. It will also explore some new possibilities for the franchise.
Beta Signup Anyone?
The new cinematic trailer gives fans a taste of what is to come for the game. It can now be wishlisted on Steam and anyone can now sign up for the beta on the official website. More details about the Beta test will be shared at a later date.
Spice is Everything
Dune Awakening combines the grittiness and creativity of survival games with the social interactivity of large-scale, persistent multiplayer games to create a unique and ambitious Open World Survival MMO. Dominate and survive the sands of Arrakis that are shared by thousands of players.
Uncover unmapped sectors to find its great secrets and riches before the Coriolis storms would once again shift the sands and alter the landscape. Bravely escape the colossal sandworms, build a home from shelter to mighty base, and traverse the dunes in iconic vehicles from the universe.
The hunt for Spice is still going by deploying the harvester and protecting it from rival factions in fast-paced, deadly combat that shifts seamlessly from armored groundcars to ornithopters in the sky. Make plans for become the most powerful individual and gain influence within the Landsraad.
Rui Casais, CEO of Funcom, says, “Funcom has been pushing boundaries in the MMO genre for 20 years. It’s where our roots are. We built on that with Conan Exiles, our first big success in the survival space. With Dune: Awakening we’re bridging the survival and MMO genres to create something truly unique and ambitious within a universe we’re all so passionate about.”
VP of Interactive Media at Legendary Entertainment, Sam Rappaport, adds, “Dune: Awakening truly promises to bring the world of Dune to life in an exciting new way. We are thrilled to be creating this with a partner like Funcom, who is so adept at capturing the rich detail and wonder of cinematic worlds for the gaming audience.”
Dune Awakening will be available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. No official release window was announced.


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The Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous
Credit: Ingrid Abery
The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda recently completed its second location, a state-of the-art marina at the tip of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, flanked by a clubhouse that will be linked to the Oil Nut Bay Resort, which is accessible only by helicopter or—fittingly—by boat. To celebrate, they’re teaming up with luxury Italian brand Loro Piana to host the second annual Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous, a four-day affair that will host a gathering of the world’s finest vessels for a long weekend of racing and cruising. Those who stay beachside won’t want for entertainment either, with nightly parties, including a Louis XIII–style tasting dinner, spa treatments at the resort and, of course, endless sun to lounge under.


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Funcom's fourth-quarter financial results showed an operating loss of $23.3 million due to "a lagging performance" by its MMORPG "Age of Conan." It was also announced that the CFO of the Norwegian company has resigned.
Funcom's fourth-quarter financial results revealed that the company had an operating loss of $23.3 million, "caused by a depreciation of USD 22.8 million due to the lagging performance of 'Age of Conan,'" Gamesindustry.biz reported.
The company also announced that its chief financial officer, Olav Sandnes, has resigned. Last year, Funcom co-founder and "Age of Conan" game director Gaute Godager called it quits, citing his disatisfication with the title. Funcom also closed more than half its game servers earlier this year.
Though things don't seem to be going well at Funcom, its revenues did increase during the fourth quarter of 2008. Gamesindustry.biz reported that revenues rose to $8.7 million, up from USD $1.2 million from the same period last year, attributed to "Age of Conan" subscriptions. Funcom also predicts profits of $6-8 million in the first quarter of 2009 from subscriptions.
Funcom CFO resigns following $23.3m loss [Gamesindustry.biz]


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City of Revere Bans Sale of Synthetic Cannabinoids
May 2, 2017
The Revere Board of Health voted on Tuesday to approve Mayor Brian Arrigo’s request to ban the sale of synthetic cannabinoids in Revere.
Synthetic cannabinoids - also known as “synthetic marijuana,” “K2,” “Spice,” or bath salts - are dangerous substances, and consumption of them is banned nationally by the federal government.
However, manufacturers of these products skirt the ban by marketing them as “not for human consumption” on the label, selling them as potpourri or incense - a loophole they’ve exploited to sell these products.
Synthetic marijuana does not actually contain marijuana. Synthetic marijuana refers to a number of plants sprayed with chemicals.
These products cause extreme and dangerous behaviors by people who consume them. Side effects include violent and aggressive behavior, rapid heartbeat, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, confusion, headaches and seizures.
“Today’s vote by the Board of Health closes a dangerous loophole that had been exploited to sell synthetic cannabinoids to our residents,” said Mayor Arrigo. “These products are often aimed at teenagers. I appreciate the Board’s swift action to rectify this problem.”
Representative RoseLee Vincent, a member of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Marijuana, noted to the Board that "products containing synthetic marijuana cause dangerous and irrational behaviors by people who ingest them," in comments to the Board of Health supporting the ban.
The City of Boston banned synthetic cannabinoids last year, and numerous states and cities are considering bans as well. Boston took action after numerous reports of violent behavior by users in and around the convenience stores and gas stations that were selling these products.
The ban is effective immediately; retailers that sell synthetic cannabinoids are subject to fines from the Board of Health and review by the license commission.


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A new billboard advert has been spotted using a number of commonly used adverts.
It is part of a campaign by the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather to advertise the new edition of their brand new “Wall Street” book which is expected to be released in March.
Ogilvy &s; Miller has produced over 20 different billboards across the UK in recent years including the brand new adverts on London’s Tower Bridge and at Parliament Square in London.
The campaign, which has also been featured in newspapers across the country, has been seen around the world, and is currently being used in New York, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, New Jersey and Seattle.
The adverts are all located at locations across the city of London and are the same as the ones in the book, with the exception of the use of a different slogan, “WallStreet” in the UK.
The Ogilvys &,Mather campaign uses a slogan of “Wallstreet” which has been used in the US, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
This new campaign has been widely seen in the advertising industry.
Ogilvy, a major global advertising agency, said the campaign was “a big step forward for the industry”.
The Ogillys &amills campaign is the latest campaign in the brand-new “Wall-Street” book, which is set to be published in March by Penguin Random House.
In the book’s first few pages, the narrator describes the financial crisis of 2008 and the aftermath of the Great Recession.
It also includes a new slogan, which the agency says will “be familiar to anyone who has worked with advertising”.
The campaign is also similar to the one published in September by the American advertising agency McCann-Erickson.
The new campaign is “a huge step forward in the evolution of advertising, in terms of what we’re saying to consumers,” Ogil &.
Miller’s marketing director, Ian Scott, told News24 that the company’s “Wall St” campaign is aimed at people who are “still buying the same old products”.
“We want to remind people that you can’t buy Wall Street the same way you used to buy Coke,” he said.
Ogi &.; Mather has not commented on the billboard campaign.


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Target Bends to Labor, Tells Contractors to Meet With UnionsBy
Target is introducing a potentially precedent-setting policy imposing new rules on companies it hires to clean its stores in the Twin Cities, the retail giant’s hometown. It’s a step forward for union-backed efforts to force major corporations to raise standards for workers they don’t directly employ.
According to a Target memo that the labor group Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha provided to Businessweek, Target’s Twin Cities janitorial vendors will be required not only to comply with federal and Minnesota labor laws but also to give workers the option of at least one day off each week; establish safety committees and let employees choose half the members; and invite unions to meet at least once a year with management.
Most significantly, the document instructs each vendor—unless released from the obligation at Target’s discretion—to reach deals with labor groups that want to represent their workers. According to the memo, such deals should dictate “terms and conditions of employment” (making life easier for workers) but they must prohibit “economic interference with Target’s operations” by labor groups (making life easier for management).
In other words, Target—whose U.S. store workforce is 100 percent union free—is telling companies that want to clean its Twin Cities buildings to make nice with unions.
Asked about the new policy, Target spokesperson Molly Snyder declined to get into specifics. “We don’t typically disclose the details of our vendor contracts,” she wrote in an e-mail. After “engaging with” CTUL, she said, Target “agreed that it was important to reiterate our strong commitment to maintaining high standards and complying with employment laws to our vendors.”
Pressuring companies to enter into such “labor peace” deals has become an increasingly common labor tactic. Management agrees to conditions more favorable to unionization, sometimes for only some workers, and labor leaders agree to limits on strikes or protests and sometimes to limits on what workers can negotiate.
For four years, CTUL, a Minnesota labor group supported by the Service Employees International Union, has been pushing Target to raise standards for workers who clean Target stores but receive paychecks from Target vendors. CTUL-backed janitors mounted strikes in February, June, and November last year. These protests didn’t mobilize a majority of the workforce or shut down any stores, but that wasn’t the point. Instead, they aimed to shame Target, attract more employee-activists, and build public support for better working conditions for workers whom shoppers rarely see or think about.
“We didn’t think we’d get to this point,” CTUL striker and Prestige Maintenance employee Enrique Barcenas, speaking in Spanish, says. “But thanks to our struggle, we did it.”
CTUL’s victory is a limited one. First, it’s limited to the handful of Target stores in and around Minneapolis and St. Paul. And the document includes language stressing that Target “reserves the right to determine in its sole discretion which terms, if any, it will include in its vendor contracts.” It also says Target will relieve vendors of the requirement to deal with labor groups if the corporation judges those groups’ proposals illegal, “arbitrary,” or “capricious.”
While acknowledging the document remains only “a piece of paper,” CTUL co-director Brian Payne not-so-subtly suggests that Target has every incentive to live up to its terms. “After really developing a strong core of leaders in the industry, who have gone on three strikes, have participated in hunger strikes–that’s the mechanism of enforcement,” he says. It’s a strategy labor will try to spread beyond Target, and beyond the Twin Cities.


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Right now, you shouldn’t be using the Mail app on your iPhone or iPad. Thanks to a serious exploit, a hacker can take control of your iOS Mail app just by sending you a malicious email.
You don’t need to open that mail for it to do its bad business. In fact, you don’t even have to have the Mail app open for the attack to work. Yesterday, we covered the news of this attack, and you can read all about the consequences. Today we’ll show you how to protect yourself by changing just one setting.


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Research firm Mintel is predicting a greater amount of personalization to go with enhanced mobile capability, more concise on-pack information, and further refinement of “green” products as part of its six global packaging trends for 2016.
1. THE DIGITAL EVOLUTION
Mintel predicts 2016 will be the “tipping point” for digital package printing, as brands move beyond using digital only for limited editions and personalization and begin capitalizing on its economic and speed-to-market advantages.
The success of Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” initiative – which helped reverse a decade-plus decline in sales – provides a window into the potential for digital printing, says Mintel, creating opportunities for brands to engage consumers on a local, personal or even emotional level.
According to Mintel, one fifth of U.S. millennials are seeking custom or personalized packaging, while nearly one quarter of Chinese consumers indicate a willingness to pay more for personalized soft drink packaging.
Digital printing currently accounts for an estimated 10% of packaging decoration around the world, with Mintel saying it is positioned to grow “well beyond” industry estimates.
2. GREATER FLEXIBILITY
Once regarded as a compromise, the use of flexible packaging (specifically pouches) increased 56% in the consumer packaged goods category between 2010 and 2014, according to Mintel’s Global New Product Database.
Nearly one third of consumers (32%) associate flexible packaging with being modern, while Mintel says it offers brands “nearly unparalleled” decoration and marketing opportunities.
The company says brands will continue looking to pouches to capture consumers’ attention in 2016, with “truly innovative” brands looking at the next generation of rigid/flexible hybrids, which combine functionality and environmental benefits with great shelf presence.
3. SHOW ME…BUT NOT TOO MUCH
While packaging is a great way to convey key brand information, consumers are also wary of an abundance of on-pack messaging that confuses their purchase decisions.
“Clear and concise information about ingredients, functional product attributes, or even convenience and safety must be communicated with total transparency – a key responsibility brands and consumers are placing squarely on packaging,” said Mintel.
The company predicts a convergence of clean labelling and clear on-pack communication.
4. THE EVOLUTION OF GREEN
Package recycling is currently “well below” its potential according to Mintel, with most consumers not having a real understanding of what to do with compostable packaging, for example.
According to Mintel, two key initiatives are beginning to resonate: A focus on alternative package material sources, and catering to the two thirds (63%) of American consumers who believe that reusable/re-purposable packaging is a “key” purchasing driver.
“When product price and perceived product quality are equal, consumers will be increasingly turning to these eco- and alternative-use attributes as the deciding purchasing factor,” says Mintel.
5. SIZE MATTERS
Brands must offer packaging – both larger and smaller – that consumers see as “right-sized” for themselves, their families and shifting use occasions, says Mintel.
While 39% of U.K. consumers would like to see a wider range of smaller bottles for alcohol, for example, families around the world are seeing value in larger milk containers, and 50% of health-conscious snackers say they would be willing to try a new product if it was available in a smaller trial-sized pack.
“As brands’ product portfolios grow, the ability to reach consumers in unique and time-shifting use occasions means brand-owners must offer a greater range of pack sizes,” says Mintel.
6. GOING MOBILE
Mobile is set to become the new “front line” in the battle to win over consumers, says Mintel, noting mobile interactions will account for 64 cents of every $1 spent in retail stores by the end of 2015.
Unlike the previous generation of mobile-friendly packaging, with its “clunky” QR and text codes and less-than-stellar augmented reality experiences, the next generation of mobile engagement will be built around near-field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth low-energy that will deliver on the promise of mobile enagagement, says Mintel.
This article originally appeared at Canadian Grocer.com.


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GM dealers await word on fate
Published: Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 9:39 p.m.
Local General Motors dealers are playing a wait-and-see game with their parent company after GM declared bankruptcy earlier this month.
Les Boyd, who co-owns Boyd Pontiac-Cadillac-Buick Inc. with his father, Cam, declined to comment on whether GM’s restructuring will result in the closure of the family’s dealership in Transylvania County on U.S. 64.
He said earlier this month that the Hendersonville dealership on Asheville Highway in Five Points will not be affected by the company’s bankruptcy.
GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of the Obama administration’s plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government.
Boyd said discussions are ongoing between his dealership and GM.
“We’ll know more in a week or two what’s going on,” he said Wednesday. “I can’t talk about it right now.”
Hunter Chevrolet is also in a decision-making mode when it comes to the the future of the business in the wake of GM’s restructuring, dealership owner Tom Hunter said. Hunter owns the Asheville Highway business with his father, Bud, and his uncle, Hal.
He said a few weeks ago the business had contacted its lawyers concerning a new agreement GM wanted him to sign, with a major sticking point being Hunter’s sales diversification into other auto brands such as Subaru, Hyundai, Lincoln-Mercury, Nissan and Volvo.
GM frowns on dealerships selling brands outside its own product lines.
Hunter said Wednesday he expects to notify Hunter Chevrolet employees about future plans, but declined to discuss specifics.
Sad day for America
The recent wave of notices sent from Chrysler and GM about the termination of dealerships is an “American tragedy,” said Robert J. Glaser, president of the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association.
“It is a sad day for America, the automotive industry and small businesses when a task force of political appointees (Auto Task Force) can unnecessarily direct action that has a profoundly devastating impact on North Carolina employees, families and communities,” he said.
“Due to no fault of their own, more than 50 franchised dealers are being terminated in North Carolina after years of investing in a partnership with the automaker. Countless other dealers are losing one or more lines (Pontiac, Cadillac) of their dealership as well.”
The economic impact of the closing of these dealerships will result in a statewide loss of more than $100 million in salaries, Glaser said. Each of the dealerships to be axed represents more than $2.1 million in annual payroll. The average dealership employs 40-50 people, he added.
The dealerships being terminated employ more than 2,500 people and have supported their local communities, small businesses and charities for up to 70 years, he said.
Cutting the dealerships will not necessarily improve GM’s nor Chrysler’s financial bottom line, Glaser added.
“Reducing the 2,000 GM or 800 Chrysler dealers does not produce a material savings for the automaker,” Glaser said. “Dealers generally do not represent a cost to the manufacturer.”
About 20 percent of all retail sales in America go through a franchised car or truck dealership, according to the U.S. Automobile Association.
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A Beverley café has closed its doors for the last time as owners say they were about to “run it into the ground”.
Lempicka Café & Bistro in Beverley’s Wednesday Market opened four years ago, serving Afternoon Teas, cakes, coffees, sundaes, milkshakes, sandwiches and more, all in the shadow of Beverley Minster.
On Sunday, owner Nancy Blackbourn held an auction for the café’s fittings and furniture, and also to see Lempicka’s last trading day. “I have owned Lempicka for four years and in that time I’ve never been able to break even,” said Nancy. “I have continuously lost money, and I knew now was the right time to close before I started owing other people money.
“I also wanted to make sure I honoured any vouchers and bookings customers had with us, and to refund them.
“I’m now just waiting for everyone to come and pick up what they bought at auction.”
Lempicka had a prime location in Wednesday Market, nestled between restaurants and shops, but it has been the amount of other businesses that ultimately led to the business’s demise. “At the moment there are 50 coffee shops in Beverley and 30 per cent of those have opened in the past few years,” said Nancy.
“There’s so much competition here that it’s almost impossible to make a profit, and I suffered a lot in winter because people couldn’t sit outside.
“Perhaps I went in too naively, and my first year went incredibly well, but then Flemingate opened and I have always kept low profit margins, so it just hasn’t worked out.”
Nancy is also the owner of the building in which Lempicka was situated, and offers self-catering accommodation as well as two cottages for visitors to the town.
Nancy said: “The cottages and accommodation are what has kept me going, they do fantastically well.
“Since the beginning of the culture year I have always been 95 per cent occupied, so I plan on keeping those going as a landlord, and also get my life back. I won’t be opening another café again.
“Hopefully I can lease the café space to another business in the near future.”


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Recently, the Jacksonville Business Journal reported on some interesting debt-related statistics. The statistics are from Credit Karma, a consumer credit management company. The statistics regard average consumer credit card balances and average credit scores in Florida and the nation as a whole.
The statistics indicate that average consumer credit card debt has dropped in Florida. Reportedly, in November of this year, the average consumer credit card balance in Florida was $6,588. This reportedly is 11.5 percent lower than the average consumer credit card balance in Florida a year ago.
Reportedly, the nation as a whole also saw a drop in average consumer credit card debt. Reportedly, the average consumer credit card balance in the United States has dropped 10 percent between January 2011 and November 2011.
The statistics also indicate that Florida’s average consumer credit score has worsened. Reportedly, Florida had an average consumer credit score of 652 in November of 2011. This reportedly is a 4-point drop from 2010. Reportedly, the average consumer credit score of the nation as a whole also dropped in November.
Thus, these statistics appear to indicate that Florida and the nation as a whole are seeing trends of falling consumer credit card debt and falling consumer credit scores. These trends give rise to a couple of important and intriguing questions. What is causing these trends to occur? What effects will these trends and their causes have on consumers in Florida and the rest of the nation? It will be very interesting to see how these questions are ultimately answered.
Source: Jacksonville Business Journal, “Florida’s credit card debt declines,” Michael Clinton, Dec. 14, 2011


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Sony’s robotic dog Aibo is launching in the US. As many readers will know, Aibo is an old dog and was previously around many years ago.
But Sony stopped producing them and only relaunched the expensive mechanical pet a few months ago.
Like its previous incarnation, the new Aibo is very expensive, retailing at around $2,900 in a package called First Litter.
The first one, launched in 1999, sold for $600 to $2,000. Around 150,000 units were sold in the seven years it was available.
The new one is selling even better, with 20,000 Aibos sold in Japan alone since the beginning of the year, despite the hefty price tag.
And the new Aibo has learned cloud-based artificial intelligence functions, internet connectivity, and some new tricks, displaying much more sophisticated behaviors than its predecessor.
Sony says it can detect emotions and respond to them appropriately, much like a real dog. But unlike a real dog, Aibo can speak 1,000 words and, of course, can accept voice commands.
The small robot has approximately 4,000 parts, 22 actuators and organic light-emitting diode eyes, and Sony says it has solved some of the issues around mass manufacturing, which means it can produce more units for the market.
Until now, Sony has used a lottery system to decide who gets to buy one of the limited numbers of Aibo units the company supplies.


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For many, the irresistible compulsion to overstretch not just our waistbands, due to gluttonous consumption of turkey and festive treats, but financially is at its peak.
Without aiming to sound bah, humbug, this year is probably a period in which living beyond one’s mean is at the forefront of the modern zeitgeist.
Governments, companies, and individuals are all too aware at this point in history what is meant to become overburdened by debt.
Having said that, though, the downside of the current economic malaise is that many people, in the UK at least, and perhaps denied access to a line of credit from more traditional means, are turning to modern day loan sharks – payday lenders.
As the perceived obligation of Christmas shopping weighs on consumer budgets, the appeal and in some cases the brutal need, for short-term payday loans rises despite the staggeringly high interest rates they offer.
But are these high-interest loan operators sufficiently regulated or are they simply taking advantage of people’s cash shortages to line their own pockets?
Of late, payday loan providers have been under fire as trade bodies, MPs, and the press is speaking out about the regulation around such entities.
As Christmas nears and consumers’ pockets dry-up, short-term money lenders, sometimes dubbed legal loan sharks, are seeking to profit at the expense of borrowers who risk racking up potentially significant levels of debt.
Personal debt in the UK is a major issue and unsecured lending to individuals, excluding credit cards, has been on the increase throughout the year, alarmingly against a backdrop of rising unemployment and low economic growth.
For the 12 months to September 2011, this type of lending saw an increase of 2.1%; translating to a staggering £400m.
The legal loan sharks will only add to this debt as reports suggest 3.5 million people expect to borrow money from such firms over the next six months.
In offering to lend cash to tide people over until payday, a number of these companies promise to transfer money almost instantly into an account. “60-second application” and “cash sent within 15 minutes,overstatement” they say, trying to tempt people into borrowing money.
The representative APR quoted on such money lenders’ websites range from 260.2% to a shocking 4,214%. This means that someone who borrows £265 for 18 days is liable to pay £318.52 by the end of that period.
Should that person not have the money available by the end of those 18 days, then additional charges will obviously be made.
Labour and Co-operative Party MP Stella Creasy is lobbying for better regulation of these entities and says Britain is being “bled dry by the legal loan shark industry”.
Perhaps an overstatement, but certainly it’s an industry having an impact on the already poor and desperate end of society.
Creasy is asking people to sign a petition calling for the government to introduce caps on the cost of credit. The petition “condemns the government for continuing to delay action on regulating the high-cost credit market” and asks for appropriate measures to be put in place before Christmas.
Arguably, Creasy is right in the sense that some form of additional regulation is needed.
The Consumer Finance Association, the trade association which represents payday loan operators, claims that the regulation of these businesses is covered by that of the lending process rather than the products themselves.
Although, according to the CFA, this ensures “everything is covered” the fact that the individual products are not subject to specific regulation suggests that operators in this space have more so-called ‘wiggle room’ as they are less tightly reined in than their counterparts in other parts of the financial industry.
In response, the government is said to have commissioned research into capping the costs of credit.
But the government is not due to report back until late 2012, by which time some of the UK public will have sunk themselves deeper into a personal debt hole.
A jolly Christmas perhaps, but a bleak new year ahead for some.


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Bel Fuse's compact liquid-cooled battery charger
Bel Fuse, a global manufacturer of products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits, is announcing the release of its BCN25-1000 Series – a 25kW, liquid cooled battery charger that converts 3-phase AC voltage to DC voltage.
What is a Class G amplifier?
A Class G amplifier represents an evolution in amplifier technology, and it is designed to offer improved efficiency over traditional Class A, B, and AB amplifiers.
Acer new swift series laptops powered by AMD Ryzen
Acer launches new swift series laptops powered by AMD Ryzen 8040 series processors with Ryzen AI.
Belden launches Hirschmann BXP managed switch
Belden, a global supplier of network infrastructure and digitisation solutions, has announced the launch of its Hirschmann BXP (BOBCAT eXtreme Performance) managed switch.
LASER COMPONENTS distributing MASTR laser welding helmet
The MASTR laser welding helmet, provided by Univet and distributed by LASER COMPONENTS, ensures comprehensive protection and comfort, particularly for users of handheld laser welding tools.
Weller’s ZeroSmog Shield Pro: clean air in electronics manufacturing
Weller Tools, a pioneer in hand soldering solutions, announces the launch of its new ZeroSmog Shield Pro Fume Extraction System.
Reducing liquid handling errors with pipettes
INTEGRA Biosciences’ selection of liquid handling tools provides scientists worldwide with solutions to improve workflow accuracy.
Sensoryx launches the Maliang Magic Pencil
Sensoryx has launched its Maliang Magic Pencil at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, bridging the virtual and real worlds.
What is an iFixit Tool Kit and do engineers need it?
The iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit, priced at $69.95, promises a lot. With articles calling it an indispensable asset for individuals involved in electronics repair, to a geek's 'ultimate accessory', its application in consumer tech repair is undisputed. But what about it's use for those beyond hobbyist, like electrical engineers. Does the tool still cut the mustard?
Weller introduces new WATC100 soldering tip cleaner
Weller have introduced the WATC100 soldering tip cleaner, allowing users to achieve greater control and productivity in all soldering operations.


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The story of Body Glove, one of the most recognizable sporting goods and watersports brands in the world, begins in Missouri, of all places. Robby Meistrell, CEO, said his father and uncle, twin brothers Bob and Bill Meistrell, taught themselves to swim in the pond behind their house and created their own diving bell. They took turns going to the bottom, with the other pumping air to his brother with a bicycle pump.
Read more: Body Glove
On July 1, Pilot Travel Centers acquired Flying J to form the largest single operator of travel centers in the US. The public announcement, which came after months of planning, was followed by months of changes to both companies’ locations, equalling a capital investment of more than $150 million. Ken Parent, SVP of operations for Pilot Flying J, said that although both companies knew of the pending merger for many months, there was an embargo on the announcement until after the FTC reviewed the agreement. But when the news hit the public airwaves, those in charge had to hit the ground running to make sure the necessary changes were put in place in a timely manner without disrupting the business at any of Pilot Flying J’s 550 travel centers.
Read more: Pilot Flying J
Curiosity didn’t kill the cat; it created a monkey, and a very popular one at that. First published in 1941 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, the character of Curious George has delighted children and adults for the past 70 years by appealing to one of the most intrinsic components of human nature. “What you hear from fans of Curious George is that he’s appealing because he is childlike in the way he explores the world through trial and error,” said Maire Gorman, VP of sales and children’s marketing at Houghton Mifflin. “That’s why so many parents feel he’s a seminal character in terms of introducing a child to the world and explaining that it’s okay to make a mistake because that’s how you learn.”
Read more: Curious George
Before the age of mommy bloggers, there was Sharon DiMinico. A mother for the first time at age 38, DiMinico was careful to select the right toys for her children, paying special attention to the educational aspect of each toy and the importance of connecting the right toy to the right child.
Read more: Learning Express
Over the last two years, Bravado International Group has more than doubled its top-line business and tripled its bottom-line results. The company started out as a small family-owned business 25 years ago, was sold to Sanctuary in 2002, and started making headway in the industry shortly thereafter. But 2007 brought with it a major change that transformed the music-related merchandiser into a one-stop shop: Universal Music Group acquired it.
Read more: Bravado International Group
Although Staples Canada’s colors are red and white, they might as well be green for all the sustainable practices the company has enlisted throughout its history. “What we’ve been doing lately is more of a flywheel effect,” said Steve Matyas, Staples Canada president. “We started off early making sure we were good environmental stewards, going back as far as the opening of our first store in 1991, and the momentum has never slowed.”
Read more: Staples Canada
In the past year, Pamida Stores Operating Co Inc. restructured, rebranded, and refocused its attentions based on three basic tenets: easy, reliable, and affordable. Getting all 204 of the discount retailer’s stores aligned from top to bottom took a lot of work, and is still in progress, but Ken Seipel said the company is already seeing results.
Read more: Pamida Stores Operating Co.
Each and every product on this earth has a life span,” said Tom Szaky, CEO and vice president of licensing and product development at TerraCycle, Inc. “The end-of-life reality of a bag of potato chips is that the food ends up in the toilet and the bag ends up in the garbage. Same with a pen; you buy a pen, the ink runs out. The only difference is, some products can be recycled easily and others not so easily.”
Read more: TerraCycle
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Businesses in Lancaster will vote again on whether to keep the city’s Business Improvement District (BID) in situ for another five years.
Lancaster’s BID manager said the organisation would generate over £1m for city centre projects and improvements between 2016 and 2021, if businesses decided to keep it on.
The Lancaster BID was instigated by city centre businesses to promote and improve the trading environment in Lancaster.
It was set up in April 2013 and over the last two years has produced events, improved infrastructure and promoted the businesses that operate within the Lancaster BID zone in order to increase footfall and consumer spend.
Around 350 businesses in the BID zone pay a levy based on their rateable value.
Businesses pay a mandatory levy fee of 1.5 per cent of their business rates for businesses with a rateable value above £10,000 or more.
This levy fee will have generated a predicted £675,929 over the entire three year BID with an additional income of £97,151 being raised from other sources giving the BID a total predicted income of £773,080.
There are mixed feelings in Lancaster towards the BID, with some business owners arguing they don’t see any return on their contribution.
Other businesses say the BID has greatly improved the visitor experience and footfall in Lancaster.
The BID has now released its annual report and accounts, covering two years between 2013 and 2015.
It includes details on BID projects, investments and events, and conclusions on research carried out with businesses over the last few months.
Some of the improvements the BID says it has made include the “free after three” car parking initiative, increased street cleaning, footfall measurement cameras, Operation Jingle Bells, Christmas lights purchases and planting and hanging baskets.
The BID has also employed “ambassadors” who took to the streets in April to meet levy payers, listen to concerns and help with security issues.
They have been dubbed “the eyes and ears of the BID”.
The BID zone encompasses a varied selection of businesses from well-known daytime retail chains, local independent businesses, offices, leisure and hospitality, public sector businesses and the night-time economy.
The postal ballot for votes will take place between the October 28 and November 25 with the ballot results being announced on Thursday November 26.
All defined business ratepayers in the BID area will be given the opportunity to vote and establish the BID during the formal ballot period.
The ballot will be a confidential postal ballot managed by Electoral Reform Services in London.
The annual report and accounts are available from the BID’s website online at www.lancasterunlimited.org.uk.
See pages 40, 98 and 99 for more comment and information about the BID, including an interview with BID manager Liz Hickingbotham, and views from businesses.


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Even though marketing is designed to get people to change their behaviour, marketers themselves are incapable of change, with budget still on traditional channels and throwing money at marketing instead of making the mediocre product better. At least, that’s the view of Andy Lark, chief marketing officer at accounting software company Xero, speaking at the Daze of Disruption conference in Melbourne this morning.
Pulling an example of a patient and a doctor, where the patient is living an unhealthy lifestyle and needs to change otherwise they could face a potential life-threatening incident, the majority of patients don’t change. Lark likened this to marketers.
“We choose death over change!” he exclaimed.
We’re in the change business but largely incapable of change ourselves.
It’s the central challenge facing marketers, he continued. “If you look around us at the data that supports the need for change is simply overwhelming.”
The marketing spend is a gripe for Lark in this non-changing environment, as many budgets still throw a lot of dollars at the traditional channels.
When asking about data, he said the response is “oh yeah, totally”. And digital? “All over it.” And then he asks to see their budget.
“Inevitably, 80 per cent of the spend… is in old world deployment,” he said.
When it comes to TV, Lark declared most people just don’t watch the ads, bringing up some data from the number of mobile logins people had while watching an episode of My Kitchen Rules.
This leads to Lark believing “marketing is propelling us towards obsolescence”.
And products themselves are what needs to be focused on, not throwing moolah at marketing in the hope it will help a bad product. It’s an area Lark touched on at Daze of Disruption in Sydney earlier this year, questioning whether marketing was just a veil for a rubbish product.
“Marketing, largely becomes a crutch for product mediocrity,” he told the audience this morning in Melbourne. “Largely we’d rather spend on marketing, than fixing our core product.
“We as marketers are so focused on the wrong thing, we’re focused on media, creative and that sort of stuff, we’re forgetting the heart of what we do is products and services.
“The tax for product mediocrity is a high one if we choose to pay.”
Marketers have to become makers, believes Lark. “Brands will be largely built in the future by doing, and you have to shift the focus to where we marketers have to own the product.”
Great FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) brands get that, he said, technology brands get that, “but in most places, marketers have nothing to do with the product”.


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“It’s probably time to be a little worried,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital. “Obviously the Fed wants to see some inflation. But one of the mistakes they can make is letting it heat up too much. And this economy is so used to very low interest rates that even a fairly small increase from the Fed could tip it over. “
Inflation concerns were rekindled on Thursday as the Labor Department announced that consumer prices rose 5% in May from a year ago, the fastest pace in nearly 13 years . The so-called core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy price volatility, rose 3.8%, the largest increase since June 1992.
Democrats and many economists say since the numbers are year-over-year comparisons, they look worse than they are, given severely depressed economic activity during nationwide Covid lockdowns around this time. Last year. And they note that much of the increase is due to higher prices for used cars and trucks, as well as airline and clothing prices, which you would expect as the country comes out of the lock.
But the number of core month-to-month inflation has also increased more than expected. And some economists are now less convinced that the sharp price hikes will level off even if supply shortages from overseas ease, with U.S. consumer demand already rising to pre-Covid levels.
Republicans are increasingly seizing every bit of inflation data to criticize the Biden agenda and call on the Fed to stop pumping so much money into the system.
“We should all be very worried,” Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the highest-ranking Republican on the banking committee, tweeted. “The combination of the Fed’s average inflation targeting and its view that inflation will be transient virtually guarantees the [central bank] will be late if inflation continues. Massive congressional spending is contributing to the problem. It is time to end it.
Some economists who previously had little concern for recent price spikes are increasingly concerned.
“The Fed has never said how much it expects a reopening spike, but we assume policymakers were surprised by the numbers from the past two months,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a note to clients. “[T]They increase the risk that the easing of the labor supply that everyone expects in the fall will not be enough to ease wage pressures as much as is necessary, in order to avoid a sustained increase in labor force inflation next year.
Yet despite the higher-than-expected inflation numbers, bond investors shrugged their shoulders at the news, with long-term interest rates on U.S. government debt falling that day.
“Financial markets appear to have bought into the Fed’s rhetoric that inflation is likely to be transient in the near term,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at financial firm Janney Montgomery Scott.
Fed policymakers will meet next week to provide more guidance to investors on when the central bank plans to start withdrawing some of its economic support, although the pace of slower-than-expected employment growth. expected probably means that a policy change is not imminent.
White House officials say they are also not very concerned about recent inflation figures, although they continue to monitor them closely. A senior administration official noted that much of the rise in inflation in May came from vehicles and “pandemic-affected services” like airline tickets and hotel prices. Without these, this person said, the inflation rate would be close to where it was in 2019.
And the expectation in the White House and within the Fed is that eliminating supply chain problems and bringing more workers back to the retail industry will ease much of the inflationary pressure.
The official also said that the current labor shortage is also expected to ease once the young workers who have just been vaccinated feel more comfortable returning to public jobs in hotels, bars, restaurants and shops.
The Biden administration is seeking to push through both a major infrastructure spending bill and a family aid plan to address long-term economic inequality issues. These plans would add about $ 4 trillion more to federal spending over a decade.
And many economists stand by their belief that strong inflationary pressures will be short-lived, especially given the contribution of used car prices to the most recent report.
“Vehicle prices alone increased the core CPI by 0.38 percentage point last month and 0.32 percentage point this month,” said Eric Winograd, senior economist for investments at fixed income at AllianceBernstein, in a note to clients. “It seems very unlikely to be permanent – once the shortages ease and production resumes, used car prices in particular are expected to stabilize.”
One of the main concerns of economists is that inflation is beating nearly all expectations and labor shortages may not abate as quickly as many are hoping. That’s because many Americans moved out during Covid, decided staying in the workforce wasn’t worth it, or felt persistent childcare issues would make it impossible to return to work.
“A rise in inflation was still likely to occur this year as economies reopened and energy prices recovered from the steep drops last year,” said Vicky Redwood, senior economic advisor at Capital Economics, in a client note. “But in the United States in particular, the increase since the start of the year has exceeded even our relatively high expectations. While this may primarily reflect transient factors, we continue to believe that the risk of a sustained rise in inflation is greater in the United States than in other developed economies. “
The rise in rental housing prices has also alarmed some economists as it may turn out to be a persistent rather than a transitory rise.
“While the surprise upside CPI inflation in May was notable in itself, a key underlying detail was rising house prices,” Morgan Stanley analysts said Thursday. “[R]Rents rose 0.24% in May, the biggest increase since March 2020, and owner-equivalent rent rose 0.31% in May, the biggest increase since June 2019. ”
Meanwhile, the Fed continues to take a patient approach, showing little sense of urgency that much of the price hikes will persist.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stressed at the end of April that he wanted increased job and wage growth and did not expect inflation to persistently rise without a healthier labor market . “We are far from full employment,” he said at the time.


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German magazine giant Bauer looked in danger of losing its Midas touch this week after more than 90% of copies of its new weekly men's magazine went unsold.
Cut, the latest entry to the booming weekly men's magazine market, sold fewer than 70,000 copies on the newsstands when it launched last Thursday, according to unconfirmed industry figures.
This was despite an ambitious print run of around 700,000 and a special launch price of just 50p - half the price of its main rivals, Emap's Zoo Weekly and IPC's Nuts.
"Their sales are really catastrophic. A sell-through of less than 10% is a nail in the heart for any publishing venture," said one publishing executive today.
Zoo and Nuts have proved the publishing success story of the year, confounding the critics to register official ABC circulation figures of 200,125 and 290,337 respectively.
And unofficial figures show Nuts was selling around 500,000 at its launch price of 50p - though this dropped when the price rose to £1.
But early signs suggest Cut, the third men's weekly to hit the market this year, has failed to emulate their success. It is expected to be followed by Richard Desmond's planned title KO later this year.
Bauer has enjoyed huge success in the UK with several other weekly magazines including Take a Break and TV Quick.
The company had no comment to make on sales of Cut.
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Tree-choppin’ was once a man’s man’s game, an art so physically demanding that they still hold wood chopping competitions to this day. But no matter how buff and bearded the chopper, there’s no chance of out-logging one of these things. The modern lumberjack is a rugged all-terrain vehicle with a tree harvesting head that hugs a tree trunk like a koala, then executes it with extreme prejudice, strips off bark and branches, and sections it into logs of a pre-determined length in a matter of seconds. It’s mesmerizing to watch, and kind of terrifying, even if you’re not a tree.
Lockheed Martin announced this week that production of its Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) laser weapon system has begun at the company's Bothell, Washington facility. The high-powered laser weapon modules will be used as the heart of a 60-kilowatt system designed to be fitted to a US Army vehicle.
The 2015 Tokyo Motor Show gets underway later this month and automakers are busying themselves revealing and previewing planned premieres. We've seen vehicles of various shapes and sizes from Honda, Nissan's idea of what the digital generation might want to drive and now a couple of intriguing concept cars from Suzuki, including a roomy minivan that clearly borrows some inspiration from the Volkswagen Bulli.
After making five smartwatches with either square or rectangular displays, Samsung now has a round-faced model that improves on its predecessors in other ways as well. Read on for Gizmag's review of the new Samsung Gear S2.
BMW’s Concept Stunt G 310 is, in its own right, a pretty funky machine. But it’s also our first glance at the German brand’s new 300 cc, single cylinder entry-level bike platform. Beyond the crazy paint job and stunt god Chris Pfeiffer’s antics, it’s a handsome looking machine – and its vertically mounted exhaust is a very cool touch.
Microsoft may have launched the second world war of computing on Tuesday with the unveiling of a powerful new Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book, two new convertible devices that make us feel like we're back in the 1990s world where Mac vs. PC was the only conflict of note.
In what is likely a major breakthrough for quantum computing, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have managed for the first time to build the fundamental blocks of a quantum computer in silicon. The device was created using standard manufacturing techniques, by modifying current-generation silicon transistors, and the technology could scale up to include thousands, even millions of entangled quantum bits on a single chip. Gizmag spoke to the lead researchers to find out more.
When you see some of entertainment's most iconic vehicles go up for auction, such as a "General Lee" 1969 Dodge Charger from the Dukes of Hazzard, or Fonzie's 1949 Triumph Trophy from Happy Days, it might come as some surprise that a small model of a spaceship outstripped them all. Well, until you consider the devotion of a true Star Wars fan that is. A filming miniature of the Blockade Runner, the first flying ship to appear in 1977's Episode IV - A New Hope sold for US$450,000 at Profiles in History auction over the weekend, with a hoard of other Hollywood gems not all that far behind.
DARPA's ElectRx project envisions tiny devices, the width of a single nerve strand, that could be injected into the body to monitor certain conditions and then stimulate targeted nerves in response, harnessing the body’s own repair mechanisms to deal with a range of conditions like chronic pain, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and certain autoimmune diseases. DARPA sees the potential to create new treatments that automatically and continuously tune themselves to the needs of a specific patient.