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Marriott International has overhauled its mobile application to emphasize personalization and guest services, underscoring the fact that millennials are driving companies to put digital natives at the forefront of their software development process. The hotelier has embraced design thinking for the digital era, a key strategy in a competitive industry loaded with choice, including Airbnb and other home-sharing startups.
"Where you're going to win the game is in the stay itself," says George Corbin, the hotelier's senior vice president of digital. "You can do the best job you can to build a great website and great app for the booking experience but the stay is going to be the arbiter on whether you come back or not."
Marriott is playing from a strong position after acquiring Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide last year for $13 billion. As the largest hotel chain worldwide, Marriott now operates 30 brands, including 6,000 hotels and 1.2 million rooms in 110 countries worldwide. Yet the hospitality industry has reached a crucial inflection point as purchasing power from millennials (Generation Y) and later generations is gradually eclipsing that of Generation X and Baby Boomers.
Our (upwardly) mobile millennials
Corbin says that many millennials, which Boston Consulting Group says will constitute 50 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2018 and account for half of all travel purchases by 2020, prefer to book travel online or through their smartphone. And whether it's classic rival Hilton Worldwide or new challenger Airbnb, competition remains only a click away, as Corbin and his digital team know full well.
To curry favor with millennial travelers, Marriott has personalized its mobile application so that its home screen content changes to reflect a guest's stay journey. A mobile app user with no trips booked will see the booking bar on his or her home screen. But the content gets interesting after you book a stay.
In the run-up to a trip, the home screen will display any reservations you have made through the app. And the content offerings expand on the day of the trip, with the home screen showing content related to the hotel, including a map and directions, as well as buttons to check-in and make service requests. For example, a simple thumb tap will allow you to request more towels or extra pillows, for that hotel location.
When you check in using the app you can request room upgrades and receive notification it has been fulfilled before you arrive. The app is currently available for iOS devices; Marriott plans to release an Android version later this year.
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Google reportedly drops support for Dropcam and Nest Secure as it offers upgrades. The company will now provide discounts for users that are still utilizing the services of these home devices.
Google Dropcam and Nest Secure
Google on Friday said that it would end support for the Dropcam and Nest Secure security devices. Starting on April 8, 2024, both devices in question will no longer function and they will cease to work with the Nest app.
And for those users who own Dropcams or Nest Secure, the company did send offers to upgrade their devices. Nest Secure users however are being offered a Self Setup System from ADT or $200 to utilize on the Google Store. Subscribers of Nest Aware with a Dropcam can now get an indoor wired Nest Cam from Google for absolutely nothing, while non-subscribers on the other hand will get a 50% discount off a new indoor wired Nest Cam.
When Will the Program End
Google has also set the date of Sept. 29 for when the Works with Nest program will cease, which it initially announced back in 2019. The program as you should know started back in 2014 as a medium for third-party smart home devices that can easily connect to Nest. Google Once the Sept. 29 date rolls around is providing a script editor for users to continue creating home automation, and it is also working on replacement options for its users and subscribers.
The Reason for the Changes
This discontinuation of support for these products by Google is part of the company’s efforts to unify its smart home products in a bid to work with Google Home and Google Assistant.
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MILWAUKEE – On March 16, Nomad World Pub was to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
That same day, Nomad and other Wisconsin bars and restaurants were ordered to shut down as part of the state’s effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“So, that was brutal,” said Nomad owner Mike Eitel.
Five months later, with Milwaukee bars and restaurants operating at half capacity, Nomad has made big changes — including expanded outdoor dining to a closed street on the city’s east side.
Meanwhile, Eitel and other local restaurateurs are considering ways to improve their outdoor dining spaces so they can operate throughout the winter — while hoping Milwaukee will better embrace the cold, snowy season.
“Restaurants and bars are using any tool available to them to increase capacity and keep employees and customers safe,” said Kristine Hillmer, Wisconsin Restaurants Association chief executive officer and president.
‘We shouldn’t have to beg’: Americans struggle without unemployment aid as Congress stalls on extending benefits
PSL season begins: Starbucks brings back Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew early
COVID-19 has especially hurt restaurants and taverns.
The use of social distancing to combat the pandemic’s spread means less space for dining and drinking — cutting revenue for those businesses.
Also, the pandemic has triggered a recession, marked by spiking unemployment rates. That means fewer people have the discretionary income to enjoy restaurants and bars.
As a result, there’s a growing list of restaurants in Milwaukee and other cities that are closing permanently.
The National Restaurant Association has estimated 30% of U.S. restaurants could close permanently because of the pandemic and recession, Hillmer said.
She believes that 30% estimate could be conservative.
That would have major implications for Wisconsin’s economy, where around 12,800 restaurants and taverns accounted for 284,600 jobs and $10.1 billion of sales in 2018, according to an industry estimate.
Hillmer worries about COVID-19’s resurgence, as well as questions about whether Congress and President Donald Trump will reach an agreement on another economic stimulus package.
Also, there are concerns about how much Wisconsin restaurants can continue to provide outdoor dining “once the temperature turns colder,” Hillmer said.
That weighs heavily on Eitel’s mind.
He’s filed plans with city building inspectors to add a heated outside bar at Nomad. But that likely wouldn’t be built until next spring.
A patio in winter?
Meanwhile, Eitel is considering ways to keep Nomad’s patio open throughout winter.
Milwaukee began allowing restaurants to reopen with limited capacity on June 5.
Many patrons, mindful of the virus, prefer to dine outside.
Also, some restaurateurs remain concerned about the virus spreading even with reduced capacity, increased sanitation, mask requirements and other safety measures.
Nomad’s indoor seating, with room for up to 99 patrons, remains closed.
The patio can normally accommodate up to 160 patrons. That’s now limited to 80 people because of the pandemic, Eitel said.
However, Nomad was the first Milwaukee restaurant to obtain city permission to shut down a street for outdoor dining under the new Active Streets for Businesses Program.
The pilot program, which the Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett approved in June, suspends code and permit requirements to allow expedited city approval for restaurants to use streets and sidewalks for outdoor dining. It also waives fees for those businesses.
Several restaurants are using the program to convert parking lanes into seasonal dining space.
Nomad went further.
Along with a parking lane, it is using a small portion of North Warren Avenue, just south of Brady Street, during peak periods. Those public spaces have added room for 76 patrons.
“Oh my God, it saved our asses,” Eitel said about the additional street dining space.
But the pilot program is set to end on Nov. 15. So, Eitel’s focus is on making the patio usable throughout winter.
That could include building wind walls and covered areas, he said. Also, additional portable heaters could be added.
Other Milwaukee restaurants and taverns that depend heavily on outdoor space could take similar steps.
Bavette La Boucherie hasn’t reopened its indoor space because of concerns about the virus, said Karen Bell, chef and owner.
Bavette’s expanded outdoor dining space, including tables on a closed portion of the street, has helped make up that loss, she said.
Bell is nervous about winter.
The restaurant could keep sidewalk dining once the street dining period hits the city’s November end date, Bell said. But she isn’t sure outdoor heaters will be enough to keep patrons comfortable in December, January and February.
So, depending on whether the coronavirus is still surging, that could mean a return to takeout-only service this winter, Bell said.
“I think about it daily,” she said. “I don’t have any answers yet.”
What’s needed, Eitel said, is “a cultural shift” to embrace winter.
“It’s 20 degrees out and people are still enjoying themselves,” Eitel said.
Canada’s Edmonton, Alberta, offers another example.
Edmonton’s WinterCity initiative has focused on cold weather events, sports and other activities to make the season more vibrant.
That effort even includes winter design development guidelines.
They follow such principles as using design strategies to block wind, particularly prevailing winds and downdrafts; maximizing exposure to sunshine; and using color “to enliven the winterscape.”
One challenge is that creating winter events can require “a lot of money with little payoff for who is hosting it,” said Jeremy Fojut, co-founder of NEWaukee, which operates downtown’s summer Night Market and other events.
“A majority of our public spaces or things we build for programming never allot money for the events,” Fojut said. “So significant sponsorship has to be raised, which is always a full-time job.”
Other tactics could include planting evergreen trees in public spaces that provide windbreaks during the winter; capturing steam heat that is vented from downtown sidewalk grates and designing bus shelters to better block the elements. Fojut said.
Coordination between the private and public sectors is needed, said developer Tim Gokhman, New Land Enterprises LLP managing director.
New Land’s Kinetik apartment building will feature a street-level food hall: Flour and Feed.
Flour and Feed will include seating on a heated pedestrian plaza that New Land converted from a vacated half-block of East Archer Avenue.
But plans to improve the adjacent city-owned Zillman Park haven’t yet proceeded, Gokhman said.
City officials also could help by allowing restaurants to use parking lanes for outdoor dining throughout the year, said architect Chris Socha, of TKWA Urban Lab, whose clients include Nomad.
Those parking lane dining spots, known as “parklets,” are now allowed only from March 15 to Nov. 15. Removing that restriction would require action by the Common Council and Mayor Barrett.
In addition, the city could allow the new East Side Art Lot to operate beyond November.
The Art Lot features picnic benches decorated by artists on an underused city-owned parking lot.
The space, which can be used for carryout dining from nearby restaurants, opened Friday. It was created by the East Side Business Improvement District.
A fire pit could be added to the Art Lot when the weather turns colder, said Elizabeth Brodek, district executive director.
“It’s about embracing the romanticism of the time of year, rather than viewing it as ‘bitter cold,'” she said.
Annual events such as Christkindlmarket, at the entertainment plaza outside Fiserv Forum, and Mitten Fest, hosted by Burnhearts tavern, show that people will venture outside in winter to eat, drink and have fun, Socha said.
“This may be the most important issue to recognize. People will attract people,” he said.
“People will attract other people in the winter in the same way that it happens in the summer,” Socha said. “You just have to give them a reason to show up.”
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/08/26/milwaukee-outdoor-restaurant-dining-adapt-winter-coming/5630681002/


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- Jefferies reported sales for a CoverGirl foundation increased 269% year-over-year after going viral.
- Two prominent TikTok creators made videos about the product. One video received 3.3 million views.
- Viral TikToks have caused sales to surge for multiple products, including a Home Depot skeleton.
Sales for a CoverGirl foundation blew up after the product when viral on TikTok, according to Wall Street analysts.
Jefferies reported sales of the CoverGirl Clear Fresh Skin Milk Foundation increased 269% compared to last year after TikTok lifestyle influencer and Barstool Sports creator Brianna LaPaglia, who posts under the name Brianna Chickenfry, posted about the makeup.
The Skin Milk foundation represented 8% of CoverGirl's recent sales gains, and has sold out online at Ulta and Amazon, according to Jefferies.
On September 20, LaPaglia told her 1.3 million followers she spent seven years searching for a lightweight and affordable foundation, and eventually settled on CoverGirl Skin Milk.
"I don't want to share it because I don't want it to sell out," she said in the video.
After LaPaglia posted the video, which has 3.3 million views as of October 8, the top CoverGirl related search on Google became "CoverGirl skin milk," Jefferies reported.
Well-known TikTok beauty creator Mikayla Nogueira later made a video reviewing the CoverGirl foundation to her 8 million followers.
TikTok has been a source of sales surges for multiple products, including a 40-year-old Clinique lipstick and 12-foot Home Depot skeleton.
TikTok's algorithm allows new creators to go viral more easily than on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, experts previously told Insider. TikTok wants users to see fresh, personalized content to keep them engaged with the app.
LaPaglia and CoverGirl parent company Coty were not immediately available for comment.


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According to ATTOM’s recently released Q2 2022 U.S. Home Sales Report, profit margins on median-priced single-family home and condo sales across the U.S. hit another new record of 55.5 percent following the largest quarterly gain in a decade.
ATTOM’s latest home sales analysis reported the latest typical profit margin – the percent change between median purchase and resale price – was up from 48.3 percent in Q1 2022 and 42.9 percent in Q2 2021 – more than 20 points above the 32 percent figure from Q2 2020.
The Q2 2022 report stated that typical profit margins increased from Q1 2022 to Q2 2022 in 89 percent of the 183 U.S. metro areas analyzed, while up annually in 95 percent. Metro areas were included if they had at least 1,000 single-family home and condo sales in Q2 2022 and a population of at least 200,000.
The report found the biggest annual increases in profit margins came in the metro areas of Fort Myers, FL (margin up from 47.1 percent in Q2 2021 to 90.9 percent in Q2 2022); Naples, FL (up from 40.4 percent to 83.1 percent); Ocala, FL (up from 44.4 percent to 85.2 percent); Gulfport, MS (up from a loss of 6.5 percent to a gain of 30.8 percent) and Yuma, AZ (up from 42.7 percent to 77.8 percent).
ATTOM’s latest sales report noted that gross profits also hit new highs in Q2 2022, after dipping slightly in the early months of the year. According to the report, the typical single-family home and condo sale across the country generated a gross second-quarter profit of $123,869 – up 19 percent from $103,750 in Q1 2022 and 38 percent from $90,000 in Q2 2021.
In this post, we dive deeper in the data behind the latest ATTOM home sales report to uncover those top U.S. housing markets saw the greatest gross profits in Q2 2022. Among those top metros with a population of 200,000 or more, those with greatest second-quarter dollar gains included: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (gross profit of $700,000); San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (gross profit of $556,000); Bellingham, WA (gross profit of $358,000); San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA (gross profit of $347,000); Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (gross profit of $339,250); San Diego-Carlsbad, CA (gross profit of $337,500); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (gross profit of $308,000); Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA (gross profit of $307,750); Boulder, CO (gross profit of $300,500); and Santa Rosa, CA (gross profit of $280,000).
ATTOM’s Q2 2022 home sales report noted the second-quarter records for gross profits and profit margins came as the national median home price hit a new high of $346,000 in Q2 2022 – the 10th straight quarterly increase. The latest median value was up 8.8 percent from Q1 2022 and 15.3 percent from Q2 2021.
The report also noted that nationwide, all-cash purchases accounted for 35.4 percent of all single-family home and condo sales in Q2 2022 – the highest level since Q1 2014. The Q2 2022 number was up from 34.6 percent in Q1 2022 and 31 percent in Q2 2021.
Want to learn more about home seller gains, sale prices and other home sale trends in your market? Contact us to find out how!


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An enterprising weekly title is aiming to boost circulation by selling copies through the single-price retail chain Poundland.
Last week's issue of The Cornishman went on sale at Poundland's Penzance branch. It is thought to be the only paper sold at any of the company's 450 UK branches.
It helps, of course, that The Cornishman has a £1 cover price. According to the paper's article announcing the deal, Poundland may sell papers at other branches in future.
The deal followed months of discussions between the store and the paper's editor, Jacqui Walls, and marketing executive, David Pollard.
The Cornishman, published by Local World, sold an average of 14,500 copies in the final six months of 2012, down 7.3% on the same period the year before.
One obvious glitch for the future: what happens when the publisher raises the cover price?


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Samsung forecasts record 14.5 trillion won in Q3 profit
13 October, 2017, 04:49 | Author: Darnell Taylor
The company said its operating profit will come in around 14.5 trillion won ($12.8 billion), almost tripling from the year-ago period when it was suffering the fallout from its Note 7 recall.
Samsung raked in 8.03 trillion won from the chip business in the April-June period in operating profit, along with 4.06 trillion won from the mobile arm.
The Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) smartphone rival and global memory chip leader said third-quarter operating profit was likely 14.5 trillion won ($12.81 billion), compared with the 14.3 trillion won average of 20 analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll. "We're expecting an operating profit of about 16 trillion won in the next quarter, and that means the boom in the semiconductor industry is more handsome than expected".
It is also a 3 percent rise from this year's second quarter - its previous highest - of 14.07 trillion won in profits. Analysts have tipped its chip division to propel the firm to record overall profit.
The results don't include net income or break out divisional performance.
FIFA, U-17: Iran defeat Germany to reach Round of 16
Thanks to the Portuguese connection, they are sure to get strong crowd support and will be looking to take advantage of it. The problem for Costa Rica is that they are playing against Iran - a team that has surpassed and shocked most in Goa.
Samsung has been seeking to move past a bribery scandal which saw the company's de-facto head Lee Jae-Yong thrown into jail and overcome a damaging recall a year ago of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over exploding batteries.
It is the world's largest vendor of memory chips, both in DRAM and NAND.
Growing sales of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) smartphone screens for new Apple smartphones also have supported forecasts of a new earnings record in the fourth quarter.
His ailing father Lee Kun-hee has been hospitalized since 2014, and is now unable to participate in the company's management. Samsung Electronics, of which he is a vice chairman and board member, is the crown jewel of a conglomerate comprised of about 60 units selling selling life insurance, cargo ships and clothes.
Stelac Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & during the 2nd quarter valued at about $104,000. It has outperformed by 26.23% the S&P500.The move comes after 6 months positive chart setup for the $460.22M company.
Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Contour Asset Mngmt Llc holds 4.85% of its portfolio in IAC InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC) for 776,975 shares.
YorkBridge Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cambrian Capital Limited Partnership decreased Anadarko Pete Corp (APC) stake by 38.22% reported in 2017Q2 SEC filing.
The price target indicates a potential upside of 34.24 % from the last stock close price of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL ). Return on assets is 11.40% and Return on equity (ROE) is 13.70% while it's Return on Investment (ROI) of 13.30%.
The recall only covers vehicles with second-row fold-flat seats that were built between October 28, 2016 and August 16, 2017. This can prevent the left seat from locking in an upright position and allow the seat to slide forward during a crash.
The entertainment giant reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.05. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Walt Disney Company (The) in a report on Tuesday, September 12th.
On average, equities research analysts forecast that Star Gas Partners, L.P. will post $0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year. National Bank & Trust Of Montreal Can invested in 0% or 3,725 shares. 2,000 were reported by Evercore Wealth Management.
Even though that sound a bit ridiculous, but I guess everyone is entitled to their own perspectives, even if they are irrational. On the front, the handset has 5MP+5MP dual cameras which come with f/2.2 aperture and 79.9-degree wide-angle lens.
If the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone erupts again, we may have far less advance warning time than we thought. The swelling reservoir responsible for the uplift was too deep to create fears of imminent doom, Smith said.
In Memory of Hayden Kennedy It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our friend, Ambassador and true brother of... Kennedy searched for Inge in vain, but was forced to abandon his rescue attempts and hike six miles to get help.
And Arsenal fans weren't buying it as social media lit up with furious fans condemning their former star's freakish statement. Former England midfielder and current Sky Sports panellist Paul Merson is back with another baffling statement.
Why did Twitter reject this pro-life ad?
SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said they were "encouraged that Twitter reconsidered its censorship of Rep. In fact, the Blackburn ad is running as a sponsored post on Facebook.
Oxford unveils plans for zero emission zone
A proposal headed to the Oxford City Council has four stages that would culminate in a city free of vehicular emissions by 2035. Oxford could be the first " zero emission zone" in the UK.


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Kindle customers may get credit via settlements
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Amazon Kindle vice president Peter Larsen held the Kindle Fire HD at the introduction of the new Kindle devices in Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 6.
Photos: Ohana by Hawaiian inaugural flight, March 11
Photos: Hōkūle'a goes back in the water, March 10
Photos: Volleyball: UH vs. UC Irvine, March 9
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Your chance to finally wear a pair of trainers that have been created in space could finally be here and discover why your £20 notes will soon be as worthless as compost. It’s time to terabyte out of the latest tech news.
Space trainers… the next big thing?
Adidas have teamed up with Space X’s ISS resupply mission to create the first trainer made in space. Space X has been sending rockets to and from the ISS since 2012 to bring pay loads of equipment to the station. But now a new type of pay load has made it on board, space trainers. We’re not sure if that’s the official name (it should be), but Adidas have announced plans to test their “BOOST” technology out in space. Apparently, the small issue of gravity was hindering production. The trainers are set to hit the cosmos in early March.
Quibi finally hits the market (sort of)
The long anticipated mobile only streaming app have announced that customers can now pre-order the app from the App Store and Google Play. The app is the first fully mobile optimised streaming service, streaming hundreds of tv shows, films and documentaries. The entire UX of streaming has been reimagined and reworked to work on mobile, everything from display to performance has been tweaked. The actual market release date of the app is set for the 6th April.
Is $10bn enough to save the planet?
This week we reported on Jeff Bezos’s pledge to donate $10bn to assist in the fight against climate change. Many people have hailed this as a monumental step towards finding a solution, whilst other haven’t been so sure. Some critics have said that $10bn just won’t cut it, and instead should be spent educating people on climate change rather than trying to find scientific solutions. Read more about that here…
‘Your money ain’t worth s@!T’
The Bank of England have began recalling all old £20 notes which are to be turned into compost. The old paper-based notes will be replaced by new polymer notes, a far more durable and cooler sounding material. According to G4S, who handle the majority of Britain’s bank notes have said the whole process will take around six months to complete. The old notes will not be accepted as legal tender sometime mid-2021.


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A local customer went to a store to buy seafood, but ended up with more than fresh fish -- he was in the middle of a robbery.... Police say two men with guns walked into Steve's Seafood near the corner of 16th and Marsteller Streets. The robbers ordered the employees and the customer into a back room, took their money and then took some cash from the store. Police say there were no injuries.
News Six, "staff report" firstname.lastname@example.org
Where News Comes First: Watch News Six at five and six O'clock or tune your dial to 87.7fm


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Burnaby, British Columbia,, Canada, October 02, 2015 --(PR.com
)-- According to a recently published report by TechSci Research, “India Nutrition Bars Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020,” the nutrition bars market in India is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 29% during 2015- 2020 on account of increasing working population, rising per capita expenditure, growing incidences of lifestyle diseases and surging youth population. The India nutrition bars market has a large base of young consumers, which account for a majority of the workforce in the country and hardly find time for traditional cooking due to their busy schedule. As nutrition bars can be easily consumed at office spaces as well as during travel, young consumers are increasingly including nutrition bars in their daily diet plans.
The nutrition bars market in India is still in its embryonic stage, predominantly due to high product prices. However, the market is anticipated to grow at a significant pace during forecast the period on account of increasing health conscious consumers and a rising number of obesity and lifestyle related diseases in the country. Other key reasons attributed to boost market demand include changing lifestyle, rising disposable income and increasing middle class households. Moreover, nutrition bars manufacturers are playing a crucial role in creating awareness among consumers by organizing various health camps where consumers can seek consultation from nutrition experts and dieticians.
The cereal bars market segment dominated the country’s nutrition bars market on account of increasing consumer awareness regarding the health benefits of multi cereal bars. Protein bars are also gaining popularity among consumers suffering from lifestyle diseases as well as weight conscious people. Region-wise, south India dominated the India nutrition bars market in 2014, and the region is forecast to maintain its dominance during 2015 - 20.
“Nutrition bars provide a very convenient and easy way to supply essential nutrients to the body. Though concept of these bars is still new in India, it is anticipated that these bars will become popular among consumers in the years to come. With increasing demand for healthy & nutritious food in the country, demand for nutrition bars is growing at a robust pace and it is expected to carve out a portion of the chocolate market by 2020. Few of the leading companies operating in nutrition bars market in India include Naturell, General Mills, Nouveau Medicament (P) Ltd. and Xterra Nutrition,” said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.


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Asetek® RackCDU™ Liquid Cools NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPU Accelerators
Asetek Inc., the world’s leading supplier of liquid cooling solutions for computers, announced today that its hot water, direct-to-chip RackCDU liquid cooling systems will cool NVIDIA® Tesla® K20 GPU accelerators and that these cooling solutions will be on display at SC12.
Asetek direct-to-chip technology captures heat directly into liquid and removes it from the data center in an all liquid path. Asetek liquid is 4000 times more efficient as a coolant than air. With this efficiency, Asetek RackCDU makes deploying high density racks more practical at a data center scale while simultaneously reducing data center cooling energy consumption by over 50%. Density is particularly important in HPC/supercomputing applications where large numbers of servers work simultaneously on the same problem and maintaining short communication paths between servers is critical to the overall performance of the supercomputer.
“Asetek RackCDU direct-to-chip liquid cooling focuses on removing heat from the hottest locations in servers and GPUs are a key hot spot,” said André Sloth Eriksen, Founder and CEO of Asetek. “The liquid cooling enabled NVIDIA Tesla K20 is groundbreaking because for the first time NVIDIA will make liquid cooling possible on a fully warranted Tesla GPU Accelerator.”
“The Tesla K20 accelerator is designed for high performance and extreme power efficiency,” noted Sumit Gupta, general manager of Tesla accelerated computing at NVIDIA. “Asetek’s solution for Tesla K20 enables OEMs and ODMs to add liquid cooling to select NVIDIA GPUs with lower cost and faster time-to-market than engineering their own solutions.”
Asetek will display its liquid cooling solution for NVIDIA Tesla K10 and K20 GPU accelerators at SC12 in booth #4045. The booth will also include a full display of Asetek’s groundbreaking hot-water, direct-to-chip RackCDU liquid cooling systems. SC12 is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah – November 12-15.
Asetek is the world leading provider of energy efficient liquid cooling systems for data centers, servers, workstations, gaming and high performance PCs. Its products are used for reducing power and green house emissions, lowering acoustic noise, and achieving maximum performance by leading OEMs and channel partners around the globe.
Asetek’s products are based upon its patented all-in-one liquid cooling technology with more than 1.3 million liquid cooling units deployed in the field. Asetek cooling technologies are available to DIY and enthusiast builders through Intel® and other enthusiast brands. Founded in 2000, Asetek is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in Denmark, China and Taiwan. For more information, visit http://www.asetek.com.


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BitKop Primed to Revolutionize the Blockchain Industry with its Green Consensus Action Signature
The BitKop Green Consensus initiative for blockchain industry is aimed at curbing all illegalities in the cryptospshere. The BitKop strategic partners, TokenSky support the project. The Green Consensus event dubbed “ Anti-unrealistic coins, Anti-scam coins, Anti-hacking, and Purify the blockchain environment,” is a sensitization campaign against the illicit acts in the blockchain space and shed […]
The post BitKop Primed to Revolutionize the Blockchain Industry with its Green Consensus Action Signature appeared first on ZyCrypto.


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After news broke that actor Christian Bale would be playing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in an upcoming film, Conan O’Brien previewed an “exclusive” clip of the film last Thursday night.
Many people still wonder what Steve Jobs would do today if he were still at the helm of Apple, even though Tim Cook has proven time and time again that he can run Apple like nobody else, perhaps even better in some ways than its iconic co-founder and former leader. But people are still fascinated with the genius that pushed Apple’s limits for so many years, and Aaron Sorkin thinks he found the next Jobs for his upcoming retelling of the epic story. More →
Steve Jobs has become something of a legend, which isn’t very surprising considering the profound and lasting impact he had on personal computing. Jobs and his cohorts changed the world, having played a crucial role in the proliferation of PCs and the shift to mobile computing platforms. Of course, he also built the most valuable technology company of all time in the process. As is often the case with disruptive individuals, working for Steve Jobs wasn’t always easy, as we’ve read time and time again when ex-Apple executives speak up and give us the inside scoop on what it was like to work for Jobs.
Now, a former employee of both NeXT and Apple has dished some dirt on what it was like to work for Jobs, and he says the late Apple co-founder was even more intense than we’ve read in the past. More →
If it seems like just yesterday that Apple and Google were at each other’s throats, that’s because they were — Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt have been trading blows in recent weeks in regards to privacy and security, with each executive claiming that their company is more secure than the other. The issue remains unresolved, but Schmidt took a break from the feud on Thursday night during a promotional event for his new book, How Google Works.
Steve Jobs passed away nearly three years ago but his legacy still looms large over not only Apple but over the tech industry as a whole. Because of this, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday afternoon sent out a touching message to Apple employees that both paid tribute to Jobs and that also praised everyone at Apple for continuing his life’s work by making world-class products that are used and enjoyed everywhere. More →
Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a man of many talents, and among them was his uncanny ability to motivate people. Privately, numerous accounts suggest much of his motivating was brought about by striking fear into employees. Publicly, however, Jobs was an amazing speaker and he proved it time and time again during Apple keynotes and other events.
But Jobs’s most amazing speech was likely the commencement speech he gave in 2005 at Stanford University — and as it turns out, an awesome easter egg hides that very speech in your Mac. More →
If you’ve read much about former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, you’d know he was a major advocate for broader public Wi-Fi, especially as it pertained to the iPhone. Walt Mossberg wrote a piece for Re/code on Tuesday in which he shares the details of a conversation he once had with Jobs regarding public Wi-Fi. Mossberg writes that Jobs understood why Wi-Fi networks needed to remain secure, but believed it would be possible to make shareable, free Wi-Fi from home networks the norm. More →
It’s no secret that Steve Jobs had a mixed reputation during his tenure at Apple, but there are few individuals with a better understanding of the man than Steve Wozniak. In a recent interview with the Milwaukee Business Journal, Wozniak discussed both sides of Jobs — the discerning, thoughtful business man and the demanding, off-putting boss. More →
The single most annoying criticism that people have about Apple CEO Tim Cook is that he isn’t running the company like Steve Jobs would have run it. While it’s undoubtably true that Cook is running Apple much differently than the way Jobs ran it, Cook doesn’t have much of an option — he’s just not a charismatic visionary like Jobs and there’s nothing he can do to change that. More →
Apple CEO Tim Cook seems to get a lot of grief from investors and analysts because he’s not Steve Jobs. However, as a new profile of Cook in The New York Times makes clear, Cook is smart enough to understand that he’s not Steve Jobs and that nobody alive right now really is. However, just because there’s no Steve Jobs that doesn’t mean Apple is devoid of vision or talent and the company under Cook is relying more on teamwork than it did when Jobs was running the show. More →
10 years before he drunkenly celebrated his company’s acquisition by Apple for a reported $3.2 billion, Dr. Dre actually popped up via iChat at one of Apple’s events and congratulated Steve Jobs on the success of both the iPod and the iTunes Store. A video of the event, flagged by 9to5Mac, shows a decidedly more sober Dre telling Jobs that he’s happy that the iPod has been such a success because it means “no more carrying big duffle bags full of CDs.” 9to5Mac notes that Dre was actually instrumental in convincing artists such as Eminem to allow Apple sell their music over the web on the iTunes Store, so it seems that ties between Dre and Cupertino go back much further than just the past few weeks. You can watch the full video of Jobs and Dre chatting below. More →


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On August 30, 2012, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that Meijer Inc., of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is voluntarily recalling approximately 68,000 youth and adult bikes. The recalled products include various models of Huffy, Iron Horse, Mongoose, Pacific, Razor, Northwoods and Schwinn bicycles. The affected bikes were sold in Meijer stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky from March 2012 through August 2012, costing anywhere between $60 and $300 each.Meijer stores located in Cadillac, Gaylord, Petosky, and Traverse City are not affected by this bike recall. Defective bikes pose a fall hazard for the rider due to faulty pedals. Meijer is offeringa full refund or replacement bike of the same type and equal value and a $10 store coupon.
The problem arises when the bike pedals loosen while the owner is riding the bike. If the pedals come loose, they may entirely detach from the bicycle. Twenty-nine faulty pedals have reportedly become loose or fallen off during use, resulting in sixteen incidents with minor injuries. The affected two-wheel bikes all measure twenty inches or more, and were assembled on-site in the Meijer stores by Serv-U-Success of Grandville, Michigan.
Meijer wants to be clear that owners of the defective bicycles should stop using them immediately. Consumers may contact Meijer toll-free at 800-927-8699 or visit Meijer.com for additional recall information.
This is not the first time Meijer has recalled its products. For instance, in March of 2010, Meijer recalled 240,000 Roman Shades and Roll-Up Blinds due to strangulation risks. About ayear and a half later, Meijer recalled another 3,200 units after additional retail sales occurred without a repair kit despite the initial recall notice.
In November of 2010, Meijer voluntarily recalled 6,700 of their Touch Point Oscillating Ceramic Heaters due to a fire hazard. Unfortunately, Meijer again faced problems with additional retail sales after the first recall announcement. Approximately 13,000 of the same ceramic heater units were voluntarily recalled in July of 2011. Additionally, Meijer recalled 6,102 Touch Point Forced Air Heaters in February of 2012.
Meijer isn’t the only company recalling bicycle-related products. CPSC announced that Eecycleworks of California is recalling 400 of their Bicycle Brakes after two reports of brake bridges cracking. Only minor injuries have been reported.
Shimano American Corporation, another California company, recalled sixty-seven PRO VIBE Carbon Bicycle Handlebars. While there have not been any reports of incident or injury to date, the affected handlebars may break while riding. This presents a fall hazard for the rider.
Specialized Bicycle Components is recalling approximately 100 of their Bicycle Brake Levers. This follows an initial recall of 600 Bicycle Brake Levers back in April 2012. The brake cable and an adjuster cap may slide out of place while the bicycle is ridden, causing the brakes to stop working. This poses a crash risk for the rider. Specialized Bicycle Components is based in California as well.


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User Review( votes)
Today’s digital economy requires automation and business intelligence capabilities to be able to gain a competitive edge in the market and these requirements continue to increase and vary as technology advances. So does cloud computing and automation software…
ERP News Magazine November 2022
In this issue of ERPNews Magazine, we have discussed the trends in ERP automation and its benefits for businesses with the thought leaders of the foremost ERP vendors and the obvious outcome is that businesses should grasp the opportunity no matter what to take advantage of cloud-based ERP solutions that incorporate Artificial Intelligence, ERP Machine Learning, and ERP Automation to survive in the future.
Don’miss out the special interview with Ed Allen, EVP & General Manager of Discrete Manufacturing Industries at Infor in which we had the opportunity to discover his point of view about ERP automation!
The latest news on the ERP industry, customer studies, and much more are also awaiting you through the following pages as always!
See you in the next issue!


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ORLANDO -- How to allow auction buyers to bid for vehicles across competing auction company platforms until the sale is done, without the platforms having to work together?
Let outside vendors, rather than the industry giants, figure it out.
That's the view of some remarketers who realize that the major, competing platform players -- ADESA's ADESA.com, Manheim's OVE.com, and Ally Financial Inc.'s SmartAuction -- may not come together to provide that solution.
Mike Reid, remarketing manager at Toyota Financial Services Inc., said he believes cross-bidding across multiple platforms is a good idea because it exposes his vehicles to more potential buyers.
But he also recognizes that multiplatform selling must be viable and beneficial to everyone. He's keeping his eye on new technology from vendors.
"There's an opportunity there," Reid told Automotive News on the sidelines of the National Auto Auction Association conference here. "If someone can figure that out and it works well, I think they'll have a lot of people who actually migrate to it."
Currently, software enables the listing of vehicles for sale on two or three platforms at once. A vehicle appears on those platforms until bidding reaches the vehicle's reserve price, the minimum price the seller will accept, on one site. Then, bidding continues on that site, but the system automatically removes the vehicle from the other platforms to prevent the vehicle from being sold two or three times.


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Carlsbad, CA (September 8, 2021)—The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has moved its annual pro audio/MI convention, The NAMM Show, to June 3-5, 2022. The event will remain in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center. The trade show was previously scheduled for January 20–23, 2022.
The organization confirmed that the change in dates was intended to address ongoing concerns about pandemic activity, new product development and launches, available in-store inventory, and current travel restrictions. With the move of The 2022 NAMM Show to June, Summer NAMM in Nashville, Tennessee will not be held for the year. Given the absence of the convention from the usual industry calendar in January, on Friday, January 21, the organization will host a one-day global livestreamed event, Believe in Music, intended to unify and support the people who bring music to the world.
Joe Lamond, NAMM president and CEO, said in a statement, “The industry has not stopped evolving and innovating during the pandemic, and The NAMM Show is evolving, as well. As the health and safety of our members remains top of mind, and after carefully listening to companies here in the U.S. and around the world, the new dates will help members maximize their opportunities and accelerate what has arguably been a transformative time both in new products and in how they come to market. I imagine this gathering will have the kind of impact of a Beatles moment or the introduction of MIDI—definitely one you will not want to miss.”
The date change elicited comments of support from around the industry. “No matter when NAMM happens, Shure is excited about the industry finally getting together to engage with each other at this important event,” said Abby Kaplan, vice president of Global Retail Sales for Shure Incorporated. Mark Terry, CEO, Exertis/JAM US Music Group, echoed that sentiment, noting, “[NAMM] has made a great decision on moving the show to June. This move ensures that it will be a very successful show for vendors and dealers. We certainly plan on being there.”
“Global travel restrictions continue to be unpredictable and challenging for our industry. Rescheduling the NAMM Show to June is absolutely the right call,” said David Via, Zoom North America vice president of Marketing.
John Hopkins, president and CEO of Sweetwater, shares, “One of our priorities here at Sweetwater is creating content and providing information to our customers about new products — we want them to have immediate, up-to-the-minute news about the latest gear and innovations. The NAMM Show brings us all together and provides an ideal platform for this each year. And this year, we’re excited that there will be even better synergy between the new NAMM Show dates and our own annual GearFest event. It’s a big win for our customers.”
“The NAMM Show is the best opportunity of the year for Yamaha to reach our dealers, end-user customers, and the music industry as a whole. It’s the one place where the new products from across our brands meet the global industry, and we can’t wait to get together in June,” shares Tom Sumner, president of Yamaha Corporation of America.
Ironically, while the convention has been pushed back, its most recent edition, back in January 2020, was the largest NAMM Show in the history of the organization, as it welcomed 115,888 members and industry professionals and more than 7,000 brands. The show also hosted 350 professional development sessions, numerous live events, networking opportunities and concerts.


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H&M Profit Increases on New Stores, Stronger Euro (Bloomberg)
"Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe's second-largest clothing retailer, reported a 6 percent profit increase for the second quarter after store openings and the stronger euro offset slower consumer spending."
In the Comfort Zone in Milan (New York Times)
"EVEN if anyone could pronounce it, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is not a name you're likely to hear a lot around the fashion circuit. Yet the eminent psychologist has come to mind during a week of men's wear shows here that seemed designed to prove the theories of the guy who devised the concept of 'flow.'"
Jonathan Saunders returns to London Fashion Week (Telegraph)
"Saunders becomes latest designer to confirm a return home for the 25th anniversary celebrations of LFW."
Dress top to toe in clothes that benefit charitable causes (Canadian Press)
"In this challenging economy, indulging your fashion desires can feel a bit, well, indulgent. So why not be truly fashion conscious and buy brands that support charitable causes?"


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Premier Ford 'Disgusted' by Whole Foods Poppy Policy
Premier Doug Ford says he is introducing legislation immediately that permits any employee, no matter where they work, to wear a poppy.
The new law comes after criticism over Grocery retailer Whole Foods Markets’ policy that does not allow employees to wear poppies.
Ford, along with others, expressed their anger with the policy.
“I find it absolutely disgraceful, I find it disgusting” says Ford.
Whole Foods Market dress code policy does not allow for any additions to the uniform except for items required by law says a spokeswoman for the grocery chain. She says they support veterans and will observe a moment of silence on Remembrance Day as well as making a donation to the Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy campaign.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says “Whole Foods has made a silly mistake that I’m hoping they will correct very quickly.” He says Veteran Affairs Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, has engaged directly with them to highlight that they’ve made a mistake.
The leader of the Federal Conservatives, Erin O’Toole, says the sacrifices of Canadian veterans in the past “provide the freedom for a US grocery chain to be stupid today.”
The new law would be specific to Remembrance Week which is Nov 5-11 this year.
— With files from The Canadian Press


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Blossom Hill Wines
To coincide with this week's London International Wine Fair, just-drinks managed to secure some time yesterday (20 May) with Dan Jago, the UK and group wine director for Tesco. In the first of this two-part interview, we look at Jago's time in the wine industry, Tesco's relationship with the wine consumer in the UK, and the 'E' word.
In the second part of an exclusive interview with just-drinks, Diageo chief executive Paul Walsh talks to Olly Wehring about the company's recent acquisitions and future acquisition plans.
Diageo has launched a GBP2.1m (US$3.6m) UK ad campaign for Blossom Hill, focussing on the wine brand's new, lighter 'Sun-Kissed' range.
Diageo's Blossom Hill Smooth and Spicy red, Fresh and Juicy white
Baltic Beer Company has confirmed changes of distribution for its Viru beer brand in the UK and the US.
Gruppo Campari is set transfer its UK distribution to Matthew Clark, according to current distributor Cellar Trends.
Diageo has launched a GBP1.2m (US$1.9m) Summer advertising campaign in the UK for its Blossom Hill wine brand.
- The End of the Road for International Beer Brands?
- Comment - Another One Bites Bacardi's Dust
- Allegro: The shape of things to come at Pernod?
- Pernod Ricard's FY Performance by Region, Brand
- US craft vodka puts squeeze on Pernod's Absolut
- Mast-Jägermeister targets UK off-trade boost
- Pernod bemoans tough FY as sales, profits drop
- ASA bans Jägermeister TV ad
- Bacardi announces CFO switch
- SABMiller exec to become CFO at Beam Suntory


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China may have signaled it's going more hard-line on trade, but it could be a good thing, former U.S. negotiator Clete Willems told CNBC.World Economyread more
As China's economic growth declines, some analysts say Beijing may have to spend more on infrastructure, adding to concerns about high debts.China Economyread more
After years of speculation, Neuralink, the brain-machine interface start-up co-founded by Elon Musk, started talking directly to the public on Tuesday.Technologyread more
"The charts, as interpreted by Carley Garner, suggest that the upside in the stock market has gotten more limited," Jim Cramer says.Mad Money with Jim Cramerread more
John Paul Stevens, who served on the Supreme Court for nearly 35 years and became its leading liberal, has died.Politicsread more
Aarti Borkar from IBM Security says artificial intelligence bias can exist at three levels: the program, the data and the people who design those AI systems.Cybersecurityread more
A key read on the industry, the Architecture Billings Index, fell into negative territory in June, according to the American Institute for Architects. Inquiries for new...Real Estateread more
The largest U.S. banks are scrutinizing members of the Federal Reserve for any insight into how the central bank will tinker interest rates.Banksread more
Mikaila Ulmer may be just 14 years old, but the Me & the Bees Lemonade founder knows a thing or two about business.Young Successread more
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington and Beijing have a long way to go on trade, adding that America could place tariffs on an additional $325 billion...Asia Marketsread more
The U.S. and China restarted their trade talks, but signs are showing a comprehensive deal could be a long way off, if it happens at all.Marketsread more
The Walt Disney Company is the world's most successful licensor, selling $56.6 billion worth of licensed merchandise in 2016, up $4.1 billion on 2015 and out-earning its nearest rival almost three times.
Disney's Jungle Book, Frozen, and the Star Wars franchise contributed to its success, according to a list of the top 150 global licensors published online by License Global. Disney released four billion-dollar box office movie smashes in 2016: "Captain America: Civil War," "Finding Dory," "Zootopia" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," which helped it to the top spot.
But it wasn't just new releases which helped shift merchandise. Mickey Mouse, the character who made his debut in a 1928 movie, featured on a collection of Coach leather goods, while Disney also signed a deal with furniture company Ethan Allen which featured an "I see Minnie" rug for $249.
Second on the licensor list is publisher Meredith Corporation, owner of U.S. magazine titles including Family Circle and Martha Stewart Living, with retail sales of $22.8 billion. Its Better Homes and Gardens products are sold in a direct-to-retail deal with Walmart, and the brand also has a real estate arm.
Disney also out-earned competitors Universal Brand Development ($6.1 billion in retail sales), Warner Bros ($6.5 billion) and Iconix Brand Group ($12 billion), which owns Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip series.
Companies new to the list of 150 licensors include Guinness and Smirnoff owner Diageo, which made $400 million from selling licensed products in 2016, and horticulture brand Scotts Miracle-Gro, which made $96 million.
The ten largest licensors in the world, 2016, listed by retail sales
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Brand Development and CNBC.
Follow CNBC International on and Facebook.


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The heirs of Italian style home Gucci on Monday threatened to take authorized motion over Ridley Scott’s new movie “Home of Gucci” for depicting family members as “hooligans”.
The film, which is already choosing up an Oscar buzz, stars Woman Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of getting style inheritor Maurizio Gucci (performed by Adam Driver) assassinated within the Nineteen Nineties.
“The Gucci household reserve the proper to take each initiative to guard their identify and picture, and people of their family members,” stated a letter signed by founder Aldo Gucci’s heirs, printed by Italy’s ANSA information company.
The movie is directed by British director Ridley Scott, who has created a few of the most iconic films of the previous 40 years, together with “Blade Runner”, “Alien”, “Gladiator” and “Thelma and Louise”.
The letter stated the household was notably offended by the depiction of Reggiani, “a lady definitively convicted of ordering the homicide of Maurizio Gucci… as a sufferer”.
And it complained that Aldo Gucci and kinfolk had been portrayed as “hooligans, ignorant and insensitive to the world round them”.
The Gucci household has not been concerned with the style home because the Nineteen Nineties. The luxurious model is at the moment owned by the French group Kering.
The movie premiered in Britain earlier in November, and can be launched in Italy on December 16.
(This story has not been edited by wantpassport workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


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For a long time people have asked us about the ability to display multiple reports within Saiku and create dashboards for users to consume their data. In Saiku EE 3.2 we have released our first version of the Saiku Dashboard Designer. This allows users to create dashboards using standard Saiku reports and publish them within the Saiku server for users to open and interact with.
Saiku Enterprise 3.2 adds dashboard functionality, schema designer, and big data connectivity
13 May 2015, London, UK - Meteorite BI today announces that it will be previewing Saiku Enterprise 3.2 at the Pentaho Day conference in Brasil on 15 and 16 May 2015. The latest release of Saiku Enterprise adds much anticipated dashboard functionality in addition to the recently released schema designer and big data connectivity.
No Brasil nossa ferramenta vem se consolidando através da adesão de empresas e usuários que querem trabalhar com Saiku. Nosso objetivo é aumentar ainda mais os contatos com todos que trabalham com Saiku e participar mais ativamente das comunidades brasileiras de BI e Big Data.
Saiku 3.1 is almost ready for release, here's whats new!


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EDISON, N.J., Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PrivacyForSocialNetworks.com announces a new product enabling mothers to protect their children's privacy on social networks from privacy hackers. Privacy hackers pose a dangerous threat due to their anonymity and advanced software, which can see everything that is typed and is invisible to the user. These factors easily enable them to take over a computer and violate children's privacy. Today their favorite place to find victims is social networks, due to their immense popularity. The lack of privacy in social media is a major threat plaguing all Internet users, including parents.
Privacy hackers use advanced software, such as Keyloggers, which enables them access to a myriad of private information including passwords, social security numbers and important financial information. Reports claim that 70% of online attacks involve unauthorized entrance into bank and brokerage accounts.
Children's online identities can be stolen by Keyloggers software that can see everything that is typed, including passwords. For example, the privacy hackers can steal a child's Social Network password, log on as them and then write nasty things to all of their friends. This is one of the worst things a child could ever imagine happening to them. The privacy hackers can even spy on children by turning on their webcam and or microphone, enabling them to see and/or hear everything a child does in their own home.
Parent's privacy can also easily be violated. Privacy hackers can steal their social security number and money from bank and brokerage accounts.
A major reason for this lack-of-privacy problem is that when friends share information on Social Networks it becomes easy to mistakenly click on bad links embedded within pictures and messages.
One of these bad links is actually invisible, called Clickjacking, and has been placed over popular buttons on Social Network websites, such as the "Like" button on Facebook News. When the button is clicked, the privacy hacker's software is downloaded, enabling them to take over your children's and/or your own computer.
Today's basic anti-virus security software is not strong enough to deal with Keylogging, Clickjacking and other sophisticated softwares that the privacy hackers use. This is especially true for the nearly half of the marketplace that uses free anti-virus software.
Realizing that no single piece of software can address the problem, PrivacyForSocialNetworks.com uses a totally different approach by combining two software products that make Keyloggers and Clickjacking and other attacks obsolete.
To read more about our Social Network privacy solution, visit us at http://www.privacyforsocialnetworks.com
PrivacyForSocialNetworks.com helps to protect children's and adults' privacy from being violated through Social Networks. Its first product is designed to solve this problem. The firm is located in Edison, NJ, and can be reached at http://www.privacyforsocialnetworks.com and by phone at 732-662-5883.


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Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green is teaming up with music megastar Beyoncé to launch a new brand of fashionable sportswear. Parkwood TopShop Athletic Ltd will be a 50-50 partnership and could potentially expand to other retailers after launching in Topshop stores around the world next autumn.
'I could not think of a better partner as I continue to grow the Parkwood business. I have always loved Topshop for their fashion credentials and forward thinking,’ Beyoncé said. 'Working with their development team to create and produce a technical and fashion-led collection is exciting and I’m looking forward to participating in all aspects of this partnership.'
Topshop often partners with celebrities to promote its wares and last year launched the second collection designed by supermodel Kate Moss. But Green was sure to emphasise that this venture is a ‘partnership’ rather just endorsement or collaboration.
‘Creating a partnership with Beyoncé, one of the most hard-working and talented people in the world, who spends many hours of her life dancing, rehearsing and training is a unique opportunity to develop this category,’ he said.
‘Being partners with Beyoncé and her team, who have the greatest creative energy and enthusiasm, is inspiring for all of the team at Topshop.’
This isn’t the first time the former Destiny’s Child singer has dipped a toe into the business of fashion. In 2004 she launched brand House of Dereon with her mother Tina, who used to design the band's uber-coordinated outfits. Those who can cast their mind back to her early career may remember her style was, ahem, interesting in those days.


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The annual Dreamforce conference just wrapped up in San Francisco and was a smashing success. The four-day event brought together some of the brightest minds and influential leaders in business and featured more than 2,000 different sessions.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the many speakers as well as have a booth for my company Due. I was able to discuss how small teams can provide big support for their customers in ways that grow trust and maintain loyalty.
But my presentation was just one of many discussions related to serving customers. The entire emphasis of Dreamforce 2016 was on serving customers better in all respects – and it’s no surprise why. According to Gartner research, 89 percent of companies believe that customer experience is paramount to success and plan to compete on this front.
However, to strengthen customer experiences, companies need better alignment up and down the organization. And – according to multiple speakers at Dreamforce, the requirement for sales and marketing alignment is the most critical.
But, in order for marketing-sales alignment to happen, both departments need a comprehensive picture of their customers. Here are three takeaways from Dreamforce regarding the current state of marketing and sales alignment – and how to change it for the better.
1. Disconnected Teams Hamper Business Success
Research from Sirius Decisions shows that fewer than 10 percent of B2B companies are actually able to report healthy alignment between sales and marketing. This is unfortunate since Aberdeen Group reveals that the biggest gap between top sales performers and underachievers is firmly rooted in a lack of sales and marketing integration.
At Dreamforce, speakers hammered home the idea that when teams are disconnected within an organization, they’re less effective in serving customers. As Salesforce’s Tiffani Bova said during her session at the Dreamforce Sales Summit, “Customers expect unified and relevant experiences.”
In the absence of alignment, customer experience is disconnected. Put simply: To be a customer-centric organization, marketing and sales must be better aligned. If there’s one thing you do before the end of the year, it should be analyzing the connectivity of various internal teams – specifically marketing and sales.
2. Deeper Customer Insights are Key to Marketing-Sales Alignment
The reason why so many organizations are experiencing a lack of marketing and sales alignment is that they don’t possess the right insights. Data needs to be made available to both teams, so that both marketing and sales have a complete picture of who the customers are. As a result, they can better serve them.
There is a huge market that’s emerging in response to this need for more customer-side data and insights.
In its first ever Globe Report for Sales Engagement Platforms (SEPs) – released at Dreamforce – Aragon Research predicts the market will reach $5 billion within the next five years.
The report also analyzed 20 top providers in the market and discussed the ways in which SEPs give businesses the ability to better serve their customers. One of the solutions reviewed in the report is LiveHive, a sales acceleration platform. At Dreamforce, the company showcased its latest sales acceleration platform, which is designed to provide deeper management insights and advanced automation to speed sales processes. With deep prescriptive analytics, the company says its solution helps organizations identify the behaviors and activities that deliver the highest performance – so teams can repeat the things that work best.
Salesforce also officially pushed Einstein – the new AI feature built into its existing platform – which is another step in the direction of providing more customer insights for organizations. The beauty of Einstein is that it uses machine learning to develop custom models for every single customer and actually gets smarter over time. As a result, businesses are better able to serve their customers as they strategically align sales and marketing.
These are just two examples of dozens, but the ultimate takeaway is that these new platforms serve to deliver more intelligence to organizations so that they can act more intelligently when interacting with customers – both in sales and in marketing.


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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accepted Zomato’s proposal for a 9.3% stake in Grofers, and this would be the food delivery aggregator’s first foray into online grocery retail.
“CCI has approved a proposed succession involving the acquisition by Zomato Limited (Zomato) of approximately 9.3 per cent stake in each of Grofers India Private Limited (Grofers India) and Hands-on Trades Private Limited (HoT) along with certain rights in each of the targets,”
CCI said in a statement on Friday
Zomato To Invest In Grofers India
Grofers is a key player in the online grocery retailing market. Zomato just invested $100 million for a minority investment in Grofers. The company aims to expand its app to include a supermarket delivery feature.
“Commission approves proposed acquisition by Zomato of approximately 9.3% stake in Grofers India and Hands-on Trades,” said CCI in a tweet.
Commission approves proposed acquisition by Zomato of approximately 9.3% stake in Grofers India and Hands on Trades pic.twitter.com/ZfzE8qnG1X
— CCI (@CCI_India) August 13, 2021
Details Of The Transaction
Zomato and Grofers applied to the Competition Commission last month to purchase a minority stake in the Gurugram-based startup. They have mentioned in the filing that the proposed transaction will not affect the competitive environment in Indian Market.
The transaction’s terms are still being worked out, but media reports say Grofers has signed a deal with Zomato and Tiger Global to raise $120 million. As the deal is valued at over $1 billion, Grofers will be included in the exclusive club of unicorns if it goes through.
Can Zomato Ace The Online Grocery Game?
It’s worth mentioning that Zomato is looking to re-enter the e-grocery market through Grofers. Swiggy, too, has been expanding Instamart to deliver groceries and other necessities in real-time.
There will be tough competition in this e-grocery game as giants like Tata-owned BigBasket and Reliance’s JioMart have a majority market share. We adore other online grocery delivery app like Swiggy, Dunzo, Amazon, and Flipkart because of their quick service.


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The new Ferrari 599 GTO is an ‘extreme’ V12 berlinetta: a limited-edition special which promises to be the company’s fastest-ever road car.
Based on the 599XX experimental track car, the road-going 599 GTO – of which just 599 will be made – has itself set a Fiorano lap-time of 1min 24sec. With 670HP in a 1495kg car, the 0-62mph time comes in at just 3.35sec, and the top speed is claimed to be more than 208mph.
Ferrari is confident that the new car’s handling will be exceptional, promising “the almost complete absence of understeer and a truly communicative chassis”.
The 599 GTO is fitted with the latest, carbon-ceramic brakes, new aerodynamic innovations such as the wheel doughnuts which increase aerodynamic efficiency as well as improve brake cooling, and ‘Supersport’ tyres developed by Michelin, with wider rubber at the front for better roadholding. Meanwhile, the Virtual Race Engineer (VRE) driver interface offers ‘instantaneous’ information on performance.
Pictures, videos and interviews on the new car can be found at www.ferrari.com, but the world will have to wait for the Beijing International Motor Show at the end of April to see the new 599 GTO in the metal.
Text: Charis Whitcombe
ClassicInside - The Classic Driver Newsletter


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GamesIndustry.Biz writes: About this time a year ago, Sony was in the midst of the HD format wars, months away from its first PS3 hardware price drop and talking about Home for the first time. Twelve months later, Toshiba has essentially conceded the format wars to Blu-ray, the price drop and new SKUs resulted in a healthy increase in the installed base of the PS3…and we're still talking about Home.
Unlike Microsoft, Sony didn't present a keynote at GDC this year and has not used the conference as an opportunity to make any new announcements to the press. However, SCEA's vice president of product marketing, Scott Steinberg, was kind enough to sit down with GamesIndustry.biz and chat about how the company expects 2008 to pan out for them
Q: Did you get a chance to hear any of Microsoft's keynote yesterday? Do you have any response to what they appear to be doing?
A: I thought it was interesting in the sense that what they were talking about we've sort of been doing for the last couple of years with PSN and giving smaller, start-up, entrepreneurial developers the chance to get in and make their games available on the PSN.
We have a different approach and I think it speaks to the different styles the two companies are taking towards online. We don't charge for our online service. We make it available for everybody.


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Had you spent $27 on Bitcoin when it was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 your financial investment would now deserve over $37,000,000.
Commonly considered as the best financial investment vehicle of all time, Bitcoin has actually seen a meteoric surge throughout 2017 going from $777 all the way to $17,000.
Creating millionaires out of opportunistic investors and leaving banks open-mouthed, Bitcoin has addressed its critics at every landmark this year and some believe this is just the start.
The launch of Bitcoin futures on December 10th, which for the very first time will certainly enable capitalists to go into the Bitcoin market via a major regulated US exchange, suggests that we are just starting.
What makes Bitcoin so important is that there is a finite quantity around. There will only ever before be a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins and unlike regular fiat currencies you can not simply publish more of them whenever you feel like. This is because Bitcoin operates on a evidence of work method: in order to produce it, you need to extract it utilizing computer handling power to solve intricate formulas on the Bitcoin blockchain. Once this is achieved, you are awarded with Bitcoin as repayment for the ” job” you have actually done. Unfortunately the incentive you get for mining has actually reduced significantly nearly yearly because Bitcoin’s creation, which indicates that for many people the only sensible way to get Bitcoin is buying it on an exchange. At the existing price levels is that a threat worth taking?
Numerous believe Bitcoin is merely a bubble. I talked with cryptocurrency professional as well as long term capitalist Battle each other Randal who assumes the possession is miscalculated, “I would compare this to several supply and also demand bubbles over history such as Dutch Tulip Mania as well as the dot com bubble of the late 90s. Costs are purely conjecture based, and also when you look at Bitcoin’s functionality as an actual money it is practically awkward.” For those that do not know, the dot com bubble was a period between 1997-2001 where many net firms were founded and also provided insanely hopeful appraisals based totally on speculation that later plummeted 80-90% as the bubble began to collapse in the early 2000s. Some companies such as eBay and also Amazon, recuperated and now sit far above those valuations but for others it was the end of the line.
Bitcoin was initially produced in order to take power far from our economic systems and also put individuals in control of their very own money, cutting out the center man and also enabling peer to peer transactions. Nonetheless, it is currently one of the slowest cryptocurrencies on the market, its purchase rate is four times slower than the 5th most significant cryptocurrency and also its nearby rival for settlement services Litecoin. Untraceable personal privacy coin Monero makes deals also quicker, boasting an average block time of simply 2 minutes, a fifth of the time Bitcoin can do it in, which lacks anonymity. The world’s 2nd largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, already has a higher purchase volume than Bitcoin in spite of being valued at just $676 dollars per Ether compared to Bitcoin’s $16,726 per Bitcoin.
So why is Bitcoin’s value so high? I asked Duke Randal the very same question. ” All of it returns to the exact same supply and also need business economics, fairly there is not significantly Bitcoin readily available and also its recent surge in rate has attracted a lot of limelights, this combined with the launch of Bitcoin futures which lots of see as the initial indication Bitcoin is being approved by the mass market, has actually resulted in a lot of individuals following suit for economic gain. Like any kind of property, when there is a higher need to purchase than to offer, the price goes up. This misbehaves since these brand-new capitalists are getting in the marketplace without comprehending blockchain and the underlying concepts of these money indicating they are likely to obtain burnt”.
One more factor is that Bitcoin is extremely unstable, it has been known to turn up or down thousands of dollars in less than a min which if you are not used to nor anticipating it, triggers less skilled investors to panic sell, leading to a loss. This is yet an additional reason Bitcoin will have a hard time to be embraced as a kind of settlement. The Bitcoin price can relocate considerably between the moment suppliers accept Bitcoin from customers and offer it on to exchanges for their neighborhood money. This irregular activity can erase their whole earnings. Will this instability vanish any time quickly? Not likely: Bitcoin is a reasonably new possession course as well as although awareness is increasing, only a very tiny portion of the globe’s population hold Bitcoin. Up until it ends up being a lot more extensively distributed as well as its liquidity enhances significantly, the volatility will continue.
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“Jeff who?” That was Elon Musk’s answer in 2016 when he was asked for his thoughts on Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos.
It was a bold riposte: Bezos was already the world’s fifth richest person, whereas the Tesla and SpaceX boss was only number 94.
Today, Bezos is unlikely to be asking “Elon who?” This year of disasters has been a stunning success for both men as record demand for their companies’ shares lifted the value of their own holdings to new heights.
And while Bezos was already Earth’s richest man before coronavirus, Musk has rocketed into second place with an estimated fortune of $136bn (£101bn) – an achievement that must be all the sweeter for the long history of public sniping between the two tycoons.
Bezos’ fortune currently sits at $183bn, a $68bn increase since last year. Over the same period, Musk’s wealth has soared by more than $100bn, putting him in prime position to ride behind his rival in the triumphal chariot, impatiently tapping his shoulder.
“These are risk-takers who defied the odds and now they’re both sitting at the top of the mountain,” says Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.
“Bezos had an idea in the nineties about e-commerce, and many laughed and thought the vision was never going to bear fruit. Musk was able to build an electric vehicle industry that has reached a level of success that the skeptics never envisioned.”
Amazon seizes the benefits of lockdown
At the start of the pandemic, Bezos seemed the undisputed king of the world. Lockdowns simply strengthened Amazon’s already unyielding grip on the high street.
The company's profits accordingly leapt 200pc in the the three months ending in September. One month earlier, Bezos became the first person in history to amass a neet $200bn.
While many bosses were toying with asking their teams to re-interview for reduced roles, Amazon employed 250,000 more workers - plus 100,000 temporary Christmas staff.
“Bezos and Amazon took the pandemic very seriously and didn’t fall asleep at the wheel like others did,” says Sanchit Jain, an e-commerce expert at Enders Analysis.
He says Bezos’ technology roots have laid a foundation for “the most flexible e-commerce plan in the world”, which allowed Amazon the agility to switch quickly when necessary.
Its ability to handle strain on warehouse operations thanks to high demand looked like a walk in the park compared to supermarkets in the UK, which suffered shortages as households panic-bought.
When France threatened the marketplace with fines of €100,000 for any non-essential item it shipped, Amazon made the quick decision to suspend operations, focusing on other markets, rather than policing items (a difficult task with more than 1.1m active sellers in Europe).
As well as boasting a large range of items with (mostly) guaranteed speedy delivery, it has also benefited from families signing up for Prime memberships to watch football, or play games on Amazon's live streaming subsidiary Twitch, as they stayed behind closed doors.
‘A golden age of electric vehicles’
With his number one status, Bezos is currently the only person that stands in Musk’s way to become the world’s richest person. But that could soon change if the pace of Musk’s wealth increase continues.
Uunlike Amazon, the pandemic had no obvious upside for an electric car company run by a man who predicted that Covid-19 would be eradicated in the US by the end of April. Yet shares have risen sixfold since the start of 2020 thanks to a wave of enthusiasm from investors who see a bright future for the first breakout electric car maker.
That has crowned Tesla as the most valuable auto company on the planet, with a market capitalisation of more than $500bn. At the time of writing, its value exceeded that of Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, General Motors and BMW combined – having been boosted last week by Tesla's admission to the prestigious S&P 500 index.
All of which, according to Ives, makes Musk’s “jaw-dropping” feat more impressive than Bezos’s, indicating the scale of the tectonic global changes that Tesla is helping to bring about.
“We're entering a golden age of electric vehicle adoption around the world, and right now it's Tesla's world and everyone else is paying rent,” he says. “Musk, with his back against the wall, has had one of the more historic comebacks in technology history.”
Ives predicts that Tesla will maintain a 60-70pc share of the electric vehicle market through the next decade, even as electrics expand from 3pc to 10pc of all sales. Crackdowns on carbon emissions across the world and the rise of Joe Biden to the US presidency create a “very fruitful backdrop” for the sector.
It is a long way from the end of 2018, when Tesla had yet to make an annual profit and its factories were stuck in “production hell”. Musk’s own leadership was in question due to his volatile behaviour on Twitter, which had attracted both punishment from regulators and a lawsuit from one of his targets.
To Ives, those questions have been decisively answered by Tesla’s production since then. He says that investors have largely accepted the “noise” as a cost of doing business with a man many of them see as a “modern-day Einstein”.
The company shows no signs of slowing. On Tuesday, Musk announced that Tesla is looking at expanding in Europe with a compact mass-market car, and a new “Cybertruck” pickup model is expected within two years.
The cult of Elon vs the empire of Jeff
What does 2021 hold for the two wealthiest humans? Widespread deployment of a coronavirus vaccine is certainly a bright spot, since it will probably trigger an economic rebound.
In retail, consumers are spending more time researching the ethics of products as they shop online, and remote workers are more likely to visit local shops for off-the-cuff purchases. Hearing of Bezos’ spiralling wealth while tear-jerking “thanks for your business” closure signs appear in one empty shop front after another, might they turn against Amazon?
Jain thinks not. “Jeff Bezos has been rich for a long time,” says Jain. “There's always been people who avoided Amazon for various reasons but I think because we are going to be shopping online, everyone will be looking for a stable experience.”
Nor does he believe that a vaccine will dim Amazon’s lustre. “The rapid growth from the pandemic will temper, but online retail is pretty sticky. I don’t think it will go back to the levels before Covid-19, particularly among the older, die-hard high street shoppers who have had a taste for online shopping.”
As for Tesla, Siegel is still undecided on whether its current value is justified. But he says Musk will continue to benefit from the “cult of Elon”, which converted mere customers into zealous disciples of his high-octane “Iron Man” image.
“He shot a Tesla into space and then he played ‘Starman’ by David Bowie!” exclaims Siegel (fact check: this is true). “For the buyers it’s so much more than just a car company. It’s an affiliation, it’s a club, and Elon’s the head dude who flips the bird to the universe.”
Either way, Musk and Bezos will probably continue to skirmish, if not through their companies than through their personal involvement in the nascent space industry.
Here too, Musk has the upper hand. Last week SpaceX made history with its first full operational mission to the International Space Station. It plans to make lunar landings by 2022. Meanwhile, Bezos's Blue Origin is racing to create a landing system that could put astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024.
Despite their similarities, the two tech tycoons have different philosophies. Bezos is a master delegator focused on building a sprawling hierarchical business and jealous of his private life, while Musk is a mercurial hands-on engineer who loves the limelight.
As Ives says: “I wouldn’t expect them to be having dinner together any time soon."


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HOW MILLENNIALS ARE TRANSFORMING RETAIL
Perhaps no generation since the baby boomers has been discussed more than millennials. This demographic, which spans people born from 1982 through 2004, came of age at a watershed moment in how we live our daily lives: the rise of the Internet, mobile technology, and the tech revolution they brought with it.
Inevitably, retail is being affected by these changes to cater to millennials’ new shopping habits. Overall, the major difference between millennials and other demographics is that they are more digitally connected than ever to brands. We’ve covered the importance of omni-channel retailing at length, but it’s more important than ever to millennials and the way they shop. Research consulting firm Accenture released a report that backs this up. Shoppers want the option to make purchases immediately, whether it’s online, on a mobile device, or in-store. It’s crucial that retailers cater to millennials, as they are estimated to make up $1.4 trillion in annual purchasing power in the U.S. alone by 2020.
What other changes are they bringing with them?
Open communication between customers and retailers
To keep millennials happy, retailers must be able to engage them at all touchpoints. This social media generation will prove their loyalty by engaging with brands online, and customer service must be ready to answer any questions they may have. In a recent survey of 1,300 millennials, 62 percent of respondents said they would be more loyal to a brand if it engages with them on social networks. This should include a dedicated customer service team that is available to rapidly respond to requests and comments on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and the like. More and more shoppers are using their mobile phones to look up information and locate stores, and are accustomed to the immediacy of a quick online search to answer all of their questions.
Brand loyalty isn’t new, but how millennials select their preferred brands is. Discounts and rewards are important and today’s younger shoppers who want more bang for their buck and to feel valued. A recent study showed that 63 percent of millennials have joined a retailer’s loyalty program in the past year, compared to 55 percent of the general population. Kohl’s, in particular, has reaped the benefits of targeting millennials in its loyalty program, with 30 percent of millennials enrolled. The retailer leads the pack compared to its peers Target, Gap, Sears, Macy’s, JCPenney, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
It also helps to make a quality product. Millennials are more willing to stick with a brand if they are happy with the goods they receive. Top retailers favorited by this demographic include Walmart, Target, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Creating a retail “event”
When shopping in-store, many millennials don’t just pop in and out. They often shop with friends, and want the shopping experience to be a fun event like their other extracurricular activities. For holiday shopping, an overwhelming majority of millennials enjoy in-store events, music, and other offers more than their counterparts. Kimco has long incorporated events into our shopping centers to attract additional foot traffic, whether it’s through concerts, seasonal events, radio station-sponsored giveaways, or more.
Ensure a seamless transaction
Millennials have grown up in the “immediate generation.” This means that they want products delivered to their door quickly. Local stores have become mini-distribution centers, and can now fulfill orders that are placed online.
As for payment, this customer group goes beyond cash, check, or credit. Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Square, PayPal and other payment plans are gaining popularity amongst retailers. While adoption of this technology is slower than some other trends, it is gaining awareness as more shoppers try out the new tech. BCBGMaxAzria’s BCBGeneration went a step further to cater to millennials: the fashion designer offered holiday shoppers the ability to pay via monthly installments through a virtual credit card. The idea came to the retailer after microloans to its Latin American customers surged in popularity, prompting the retailer to bring a modified concept to the States.
These four trends don’t require retailers to totally overhaul their operations, but instead serve as a reminder to retailers to always innovate and adapt to the newest generation of shoppers, while continuing to serve the rest of the population. 2016 will see the continued evolution of these trends as job creation and spending pick up.


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Bollinger Motors, the American EV start-up founded by Robert Bollinger in 2014, just announced that it will be pausing development of the B1 and B2 consumer EVs, which have been in development since 2015. Instead, Bollinger will be shifting gears to focus instead on the commercial automotive market.
The company first debuted the Bollinger B1 flagship model in 2018, and later revealed a pickup version called the Bollinger B2. In late 2020, Bollinger reportedly began taking reservations for the B2 model, with plans to begin production in 2021.
Robert Bollinger has since shared a statement on the unexpected pivot, noting that his company had started out making the B1 and B2 in 2015 with a dream to make the best trucks on the planet. “The off-road capable, all-wheel-drive B1 and B2 are powerful, innovative, and distinct. We’ve put countless hours of hard work and passion into making something we are all very proud of,” the founder shared.
“However, today we’re postponing their development and shifting our focus to commercial trucks and fleets. This is a vitally important move for us, because it enables us to continue the development of our technology, and to make a real impact in the green future of automotive.”
Robert went on to note that Bollinger plans to apply the knowledge and experience they’ve gained over the years to the realm of commercial development, and will make innovative trucks for Classes 3 through 6. He ended his letter with heartfelt gratitude, “Thank you for following us. Thank you for reserving a truck, for rooting for us; it means everything to me. Thank you so much for your support over the years. There’s so much more to come.”
The Bollinger website already reflects this brand shift to commercial EVs, and the company said it will refund all reservation deposits for its B1 and B2 EVs as well.


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T-Mobile branded Dock Connector for Applie iPhone and iPod raises eyebrows
Every once in a while, we hear a different kind of rumor about which carrier is about to grab the Apple iPhone. While most of the time speculation centers around a Verizon-Apple hook up, occasionally we see a story pertaining to the iPhone and T-Mobile. The nation's fourth largest carrier (and self-proclaimed owner of its largest 4G network) is now offering at some of its retail stores, a 30 pin cable proprietary to the iOS triplets.
T-Mobile has welcomed unlocked iPhone users on its network. The Dock Connector could simply be a sign of how the carrier has opened its arm wide to greet Apple users. Or, perhaps, it could mean something else like the impending addition of the Apple iPad or maybe even the Apple iPhone, to the mobile operator's lineup.
Does selling a proprietary plug in a branded box mean more than meets the eye?


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The UK needs to up its EV ambitions to go carbon neutral in 2050
In 2008, the UK committed to an ambitious goal of zero emissions in 2050. In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to sign carbon neutrality into law. But the Government's ambition seems to be all but ambitious when it comes to the transport sector.
By Gustav Hoejmark-Jensen
Committing to green energy, more sustainable consumption and carbon friendly infrastructure is important, but the ambitious 2050 goal will be hard to hit if the British transport sector remains overlooked.
Transportation in the UK generates 23% of Britain's total carbon emissions, which is more than any other sector, according the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the main governmental advisory group on climate issues.
Starting with tackling the transition from petrol and diesel cars, to electric vehicles seems like an obvious place to begin.
But there are still several political potholes that need to be paved by the Government, if it is to put Britain on the road to a carbon free future in 30 years.
The first speed bump is the price barrier. Electric cars remain more expensive than regular cars when measured on the base price of each vehicle, and they often come with extra cost of installing a charging point at home.
Despite the longterm savings from an electric vehicle, the majority of car-buyers are looking at the bottom line when visiting dealerships.
In the past, The Government used to ease the transition to EVs by introducing a grant towards the purchase of an electric car.
However, in November last year, the Department for Transport (DfT) reduced the grant on fully electric cars significantly, dropping it from £4500 to £3500.
The DfT also completely scrapped the grant on electrically assisted, so-called hybrid cars.
Reports from the DfT suggests that this was done as the grants reached a “government cap”, and to provide more funding for public charge points.
The higher price tag and diminishing grants towards purchase can be seen in the overall statistics.
The latest figures from the DfT show that there were almost 32,5 million registered cars in the UK in 2018.
But only 1,8% of them were electric.
This ties in with a CCC report from May 2019, that showed how only around 2% of all new cars sold in the UK in the 12 months to September 2018, were electric.
This is a long way from what Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in his inaugural speech on the July 25th, 2019:
“We will be the home of electric vehicles – cars, even planes, powered by British made battery technology being developed right here, right now.”
Safe to say that Britain is by all measures not yet a home of electric vehicles, despite the wide ranging both personal and societal benefits that come with EV ownership.
Compared to the UK’s Scandinavian neighbours, Britain fares poorly, to say the least.
47,5% of all new vehicles sold in Norway in 2018 were plug-in or fully electric cars.
In Sweden, electric cars accounted for 7.5% of all new cars sold.
Grossly outperfoming the UK.
So what could be wrong?
Is it perhaps missing incentives?
The CCC attributes the high percentages of sales in Scandinavia to the strong support by the national governments, who provide both tax-exemptions and other incentives such as low cost charging and widely available charging stations.
In Norway for example, electric and plug-in hybrids are exempt from all road, income and export tax, and they even enjoy free parking in cities and no road-toll.
Popularity is rising but incentives are needed
The popularity of electric cars in the UK is generally rising, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
But as little as 0,5% of all miles driven in the UK were done in low-carbon vehicles in 2018 according to the CCC.
Estelle Symonds, the co-owner of EV Experts, an electric car dealership in Guildford, believes that the Government is providing the wrong and too few incentives.
“The Government should do a whole lot more to incentivise people to go electric. I think that electric cars should be exempt from all road tax. Already, electric vehicles are more expensive in the first place, and a number of electric vehicles are being taxed even higher now. People definitely distance themselves from cars in the high tax bracket.”
Representing the manufacturing and car trade industry, Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of SMMT agreed to an extend and said: “The industry shares the Government’s ambition for a zero-emission future but while manufacturers continue to invest billions in the technology that will get us there, they cannot determine the pace of uptake. We need a world-class package of measures, with heavy investment in infrastructure and long-term purchase incentives. This should include a fair and fiscally neutral tax system that encourages car buyers to choose the right low- or zero- emission vehicle for their driving needs.”
A low fuel tax is part of the problem
In the past, the UK Government influenced how much people would drive and which cars they would buy, through making adjustments to the tax on petrol and diesel.
A higher fuel tax meant less driving and the purchasing of more economic cars, whereas a low fuel tax is leading people to drive more and purchase less economical cars, that often tend to pollute more as well.
Since 2000, the fuel tax has been locked at 57,95p per litre, according to the Government’s website for taxes and duties.
One Boris Johnson announced before the election in 2019 that he would reduce the fuel tax by 2p per litre in the next budget.
A decision that would not only cost the Government £1bn a year, but also greatly reduce the incentive for people to buy low-carbon vehicles, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Further calculations by the IFS indicate that the UK Government has already lost out on “£19bn since 2000”, and it stands to lose another “£28bn if fuel duties are not raised in the next budget.”
“In recent years, revenue from fuel duties have been falling due to a prolonged freeze.
A rise in fuel duties would incentivise the move to lower emissions cars, and this may well be one of the tools that a future government could use to achieve lower emissions.” says Rebekah Stroud, a research economist at the IFS.
However, the fuel tax on one litre of gasoline in Norway is only around 42p according to the Norwegian Tax Authority, and yet popularity and sales of EVs far outweigh the numbers in the UK. So other incentives seem to more effective than just expensive fuel.
But regardless of whether it is higher fuel duties or grants and tax-exemptions that will make the difference in the uK, the importance of sustainable transport is central to the climate debate and whether or not the UK’s goal to reach zero emissions will be reached in the near future.