text:
Fitch Ratings issues positive forecast or U.S. transport infrastructure.
Fitch views near-term U.S. economic trends favorably with modest 2.1% GDP growth this year even amid slower-than-expected first-quarter growth and fiscal easing.
Latest NewsSTB reschedules listening session for CSX service issues AAR reports mixed volumes for week ending September 16 Maersk makes bold bid at differentiation by teaming with CRM giant Federal Maritime Commission to take closer look at “Fair Port Practices” CEMA reports unexpectedly strong gains in 2017 More News
Latest ResourceSpecial Digital Issue: Packaging in Successful Fulfillment Operations A comprehensive look at the software, hardware and equipment that ensure packaging processes are as efficient as possible.
The outlook for U.S. transportation infrastructure remains quite healthy for the rest of this year despite a lack of clarity around the Trump administration's plans for beefing up infrastructure spending, according to Fitch Ratings in its midyear outlook report.
Fitch views near-term U.S. economic trends favorably with modest 2.1% GDP growth this year even amid slower-than-expected first-quarter growth and fiscal easing. Low fuel prices should keep travel costs affordable, while large transportation enterprises will still need to borrow debt at least for the foreseeable future in order to help provide congestion relief and serve ongoing infrastructure renewal needs. Longer term, however, in just what manner U.S. economic and fiscal policies materialize make the outlook more uncertain.
Growth in cargo traffic at U.S. airports remains solid though it will level off somewhat in the coming months.
Seth Lehman, Senior Director for Fitch, says large-hub airports are still the strongest performers "in the aggregate," though smaller regional airports are now showing stronger performance as well.
“By and large, U.S. airports have not seen broad growth in their cargo operations with mail and freight cargo experiencing volatility and uneven performance," Lehman said in an interview. "However, since the recession period of 2009/2010, Miami’s overall cargo has grown approximately 30% while smaller Richmond Capital Region airport in Virginia has grown by a robust 48%.”
Volume growth should continue to mirror that of GDP for U.S. ports for rest of the year. That said, "shipping company mergers, changing alliance structures and fluctuating freight rates will shift volumes, which could alter contractual protections for select ports," said Emma Griffith, Director.
In an interview with LM late last month, Griffith noted that “diversified” U.S. ports are likely to finish the year stronger..
The growth outlook is more moderate for U.S. toll roads for the second half of 2017. Inflationary toll increases should lead to stronger revenue growth, with much of the greenfield development still emanating from managed lanes. "Toll roads still face political risk, including federal funding uncertainty and state tolling opposition," said Tanya Langman, Director. A more cautious growth trajectory remains in the cards for public private partnerships (P3s) as well.
More state and local governments are exploring P3 financing models, though "there remains a scarcity of funding and a lack of understanding around the P3 structure, meaning most infrastructure needs will continue to be financed via more traditional means," said Scott Zuchorski, Senior Director.
About the AuthorPatrick Burnson, Executive Editor Patrick Burnson is executive editor for Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management Review magazines and web sites. Patrick is a widely-published writer and editor who has spent most of his career covering international trade, global logistics, and supply chain management. He lives and works in San Francisco, providing readers with a Pacific Rim perspective on industry trends and forecasts. You can reach him directly at [email protected]
Subscribe to Modern Materials Handling Magazine!Subscribe today. It's FREE!
Find out what the world’s most innovative companies are doing to improve productivity in their plants and distribution centers.
Start your FREE subscription today!
The Pallet Report: Pallets help optimize operations, protect products and organize space Warehouse Basics: Navigating the pick path View More From this Issue


text:
BEIJING - The nation's e-commerce market is expected to reach 1.5 trillion yuan ($220 billion) by 2014, Deutsche Bank said in a recent report.
The business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) segments are expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 42 percent to 1.523 trillion yuan, and will account for 7.2 percent of all domestic retail sales by 2014. Internet penetration is expected to grow by 59.3 percent to 812 million individual users.
"E-commerce is one of the most exciting subsets within the Chinese Internet space," said Alan Hellawell, head of Asian telecommunications, media and technology research at Deutsche Bank.
"We expect this to change significantly as the Internet population grows and more consumers turn to the Internet for their business and personal consumption needs," he said.
B2C providers are expected to aggressively expand their product categories, while market consolidation will occur as competition among product providers intensifies from current low levels.
Strength of logistics and other value-added services will become more important for consumers in China than the breadth of product categories or depth of specific offerings in the next five years, the bank said.
"Three key factors will determine the success of e-commerce in China. They are: successfully marketing a product, inventory management and the ability to efficiently and cheaply deliver the goods. The third factor, logistics, has not proved a bottleneck to growth so far, but improvements need to be made to keep pace with the growing demands of the e-commerce sector in China," Hellawell said.
Deutsche Bank distinguishes between 'platform' e-commerce models - where companies will outsource warehousing, transportation and delivery to third parties - and 'self-build' models, where companies will create their own warehousing and delivery capabilities.
"We prefer the platform approach as it is more cost-efficient and scalable. This scalability allows volumes and business to increase more quickly, which are critical for both e-commerce platforms and logistics partners," said Hellawell.
China has 404 million Internet users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, having grown by 86 million, or 28.9 percent, between 2008 and 2009. In 2008, Internet-related industries generated a turnover of 650 billion yuan, which Deutsche Bank estimates grew by 36 percent year-on-year to total 884 billion yuan in 2009.
There are currently 20,700 e-business websites according to the China e-Business Research Center, which Deutsche Bank expects will grow to more than 23,000 by the end of 2010, with total sales revenue of 20 billion yuan.

domain: news


text:
Activision may be working as many as 10 new games as part of its big new business restructuring focusing on games development.
Rumor has it that Activision is strongly ramping up its games slate along with Blizzard, and could be developing nearly a dozen new titles that includes a new Destiny-like MMO-FPS hybrid. The info comes from Call of Duty YouTuber The Gaming Revolution, who cites a friend at Activision as a source.
Apparently Activision wants to make their own wholly-owned IP to replace Destiny. The idea is to create something they don't have to pay royalties on, that can completely control, and something that continually makes money over time via online engagement tactics. The company may enlist Call of Duty FPS experts at Treyarch and Infinity Ward for this project, which could mean Call of Duty will shed its annualized structure. Otherwise it'll be a third-party project.
This report does hold some veracity, at least when it comes to game development volume, but we shouldn't expect every project to be a big AAA endeavor. There's some mobile ports kicking around in there too.
Both Activision and Blizzard are doubling-down on games development right now. Blizzard says it has more games in its pipeline than ever, and new projects may include Overwatch 2, Diablo IV, and maybe Diablo 2 Remastered.
So let's put this more into perspective using what we know about Activsion-Blizzard's current business model changes.
Activision is confirmed to be making big new games
While Activision hasn't confirmed how many projects it's working on, the company did go on an aggressive hiring spree for more devs. Activision famously fired 800 non game-developers from superfluous departments like marketing to re-allocate 20% more cash for games development.
Activision wouldn't do this if they weren't ramping up their internal games slate.
But making new titles is just 1/4th of the new business plan: The other three parts include mobile ports, new engagement strategies, and live service curation.
So all of these projects will have some sort of live service hook. A portion of them will likely be mobile games, too. We can expect microtransactions, cross-play, and standalone mobile games to accompany new releases.
Activision-Blizzard's business model looks like this:
- Free-to-play mobile games (titles like Diablo Immortal)
- Microtransaction-based games (also F2P)
- Premium releases (like Call of Duty)
- Advertising (eSports)
- Subscriptions (World of Warcraft)
Right now we only know of one other big Activision project, and that's Black Ops 5, which may be set in the Cold War and feature a more grim and visceral campaign. It'll be developed by three teams: Treyarch, who will handle principal dev, and Raven and Sledgehammer Games will help with multiplayer.
Activision may not be eager to make new Destiny-like game
At the same time, Activision might not want to make another Destiny-esque game. They just distanced themselves from Destiny by selling the rights back to Bungie. Whether or not they'll jump back in with their own version is up in the air. The company actually said that Destiny was tying up its resources, which could hint they're not ready to jump back into another huge online MMO-FPS project.
"We had internal resources supplementing Bungie's work, and that means they're tying up one of our scarcest resources: developer time. Now under the arrangement we have reached, this will be freed up after short transition period," Activision Chief Operating Officer Coddy Johnson said in a February 2019 earnings call.
Some of these games may never be released
Just because Activision is working on new games doesn't mean they'll actually launch. Yes, the company is trying to streamline games development, and that means trying to choose projects that will actually manifest into products that can be sold in stores, but that's not always how game dev happens.
Projects are cancelled all the time. Others are put into cold storage for years and years, only to be resurrected later. So expect at least some of the rumored 10 games Activision is working on to be cancelled.
Activision's latest game, the Modern Warfare reboot, sends important signals of what it plans to do in the future: Cross-play, no-lootbox monetization, and a huge post-release content roadmap to rival every other Call of Duty ever made.


text:
It’s been a few months since 9to5Mac began reporting on Costa Rican banks readying the launch of Apple Pay in the country. Now, Banco Promerica just uploaded Apple’s payment system terms and conditions to its web page.
Costa Rica Stories September 29, 2021
Costa Rica Stories December 12, 2013
Apple opens Games category in Costa Rican and Qatari App Stores
Earlier this year Apple finally allowed apps in the Games category to appear on the South African App Store. Today the company has sent out an email to developers notifying them that the same change has been made in Costa Rica and Qatar. App developers don’t have to do anything to enable their apps for sale in those stores as long as the apps have been cleared for sale in those countries.
If developers have not set their apps to be available in those countries, they’ll need to make that change before their games are available in those stores.
Costa Rica Stories May 8, 2012
New iPad launches in 30 countries this month starting May 11
As noted by MacRumors, Apple is getting ready to launch the third-generation iPad in 30 additional countries this month beginning with 23 countries on May 11. Among the countries included in this Friday’s launch is Brazil, where Apple currently assembles some of its iPad 2 and iPhone 4 units at a Foxconn plant in Jundiai. China is still not included in this month’s international roll out.
All countries receiving the iPad on May 11 include: Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan, Tunisia, and Vietnam.
The remaining seven countries to receive the device this month will do so on May 12: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.


text:
No software is perfect, but sometimes it is really funny what is causing pretty serious problems such as the latest on with Apple Watch Series 3. According to a number of users on Reddit, the latest Apple smartwatch is having problems when asked about the weather.
If you ask Siri how the weather was that day, the smartwatch would crash. This isn't the first time that Apple is having problems with time and the issue is most likely related to the end of Daylight Saving Time. The Cupertino company has yet to release any information about the issue.


text:
According to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA), China’s refined lead output during March was 422,300 mt.
Data from China Customs shows China imported 101,300 mt of lead concentrate during March, down 8.2% from February.
China Customs reported that refined lead imports during March were only 4 mt, down sharply from the 242 mt in February.
According to China Customs, China imported 4.56 million mt of bauxite during March, down 12.02% YoY.
Data from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) show that China’s alumina output hit nearly 3.5 million mt during March, up 12.36% YoY.
China Copper Products Apparent Consumption Data Analysis in March 2013
China Copper Products Imports Data Analysis in March 2013
China Copper Products Output Data Analysis in March 2013
As the 2013 May Day holiday falls from Apr. 29, 30 to May 1, there will be no update on SMM's website during the holiday period. Update will return to normal from May 2. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Copper prices rose on Thursday on a weaker dollar and after strong U.S. jobs data lifted sentiment about the outlook for global metals demand.
According to China Customs, China’s alumina imports hit 351,600 mt during February.
According to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA), China produced 6.8 million mt of alumina during the first two months of 2013, up 16.47% YoY.
Copper concentrate imports in February rose by 8.6% YoY, but were down 80,000 mt from January levels.
According to China Customs, China imported 4.29 million mt of bauxite during February, down 6.14% YoY.
Steelease is relaunching its Iron Ore Monthly Reports by End of March 2013.
[Sep 29, 2012]+29 Key Graphs & Charts in Data Pack with Chinese Analysts Exclusive...
[May 22, 2013]The one and the only international conference focusing on copper ore...
Copyright © SMM. All Rights Reserved


text:
UPDATE: Samsung initially didn’t reveal the pricing for the Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro. But Samsung Spain has now confirmed that the new rugged smartphone will retail for €599 in Europe. The company will also offer an Enterprise Edition that will cost €609.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Samsung has had enough of Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro leaks. It officially announced the new rugged smartphone a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule. The handset was originally scheduled to break cover on July 13.
The Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro has been subject to numerous leaks over the past few weeks. But the last two major leaks bared it all. They revealed pretty much everything we need to know about the upcoming rugged smartphone from Samsung, barring the price. The company has now decided that it’s not worth holding off the official announcement until the previously scheduled date. It has published the detailed specs and press renders of the device. The handset has also got a landing page on Samsung Germany’s online store.
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro official specs and features
The Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro sports a 6.6-inch display with Full HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The LCD screen comes with Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection and Touch Sensitivity for use with gloves. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G powers the rugged phone, which gets 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory. It supports MicroSD cards of up to 1TB capacity should you need more storage space.
The Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro features two cameras at the back — 50-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens. For selfies and video calls, we have a 13-megapixel camera on the front. This phone includes a 3.5mm headphone jack and two configurable physical keys.
Connectivity features include Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, 5G cellular connectivity, and Wi-Fi 6E. A side-mounted fingerprint scanner, face recognition, Android 12, Samsung Knox security, Dolby Atmos sound, and Samsung DeX support are some other highlights. The handset packs a 4050mAh battery that charges at up to 18W speed via USB Type-C 3.2. It also supports charging via POGO pins.
The Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro is MIL-STD-810H-certified for durability and comes with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. It gets a sturdy frame with ridged edges for a stronger grip and better shock absorption. The bezels around the display are also raised to protect the screen from shattering in a fall. These added protection layers expectedly make the phone a bit bulky and heavy, though. It measures 168.8 x 79.9 x 9.9mm in dimension and weighs 235 grams.
Samsung touts the Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro to pair “uncompromised durability with seamless connectivity to unlock success for businesses of all shapes and sizes.”
Price and availability
The only thing that leaks didn’t confirm about the Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro is its pricing. And Samsung isn’t telling us that either, not just yet. The company has, however, announced that the new rugged smartphone will go on sale in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East this month. Availability in other regions will follow later.
As for pricing, Samsung will likely reveal how much it will charge for the Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro on July 13. That’s because the Korean firm has one more rugged product to announce that day, the Galaxy Tab Active 4 Pro. So stay tuned.


text:
Across the globe, forward-looking telecom service providers and their savvy enterprise customers are joining the progressive movement to deploy Open Hybrid Cloud solutions.
The growing trend has created a demand for highly-skilled IT talent that can enable companies to achieve their business technology goals and objectives.
Savvy marketers are already utilizing the mobile channel to reach their key target stakeholders online. Why now? Smartphones and media tablets are already mainstream devices that are increasingly being used for the search and discovery of online information.
By 2018, the total advertising spend on mobile search and discovery will reach $16.8 billion — that’s up from an estimated $6.4 billion in 2013.
Professionals working remotely are accepted at most forward-thinking companies today, as more progressive executives direct their recruiters to search out and hire the best talent for the role — regardless of where they reside.
Business is now run at the speed of information exchange, facilitated by online communications and real-time audio and video collaboration.
Today, many technology entrepreneurs are quickly building their companies and quickly realizing a rapid, lucrative exit. According to Dealogic, the odds are in their favor — as of October 2013, the tech sector had logged 1,715 M&A deals worth approximately $104 billion.
Each year more than a half million new startups launch, in this fast-growing, quickly evolving sector of the market.
The award-winning alternative London, UK creative tech trade mission is back. Hackney House Austin 2014 opens on Friday 7 March and runs all weekend through to Monday 10 March.
We are based at 721 Congress Avenue, corner of 8th Street, Austin, TX 78701.
via Hackney House
Introducing the first annual SXSW Music Hackathon Championship — presented by AT&T U-verse with GigaPower — where world-class hackers and designers will have 24 hours to create new tech innovations in the music space for artists, industry, and fans.
The SXSW Music Hackathon is FREE and open to the public (with approved RSVP), and will take place over a 24-hour period.
via SXSW 2014
I received the following email offer from American Airlines. “Your AAdvantage Gold status expires today! Not to worry — we are pleased to offer you the opportunity to renew your Gold membership now so you may continue to enjoy exceptional benefits, Renew your Gold Status for only $649.“
When a company asks their long-term customer to pay them for the “privilege” to be a member of a loyalty program — it has the inverse effect. Moreover, Gold benefits are not worth $649.
The UK “Centre for Entrepreneurs” think tank is to take on the running of the national enterprise campaign “StartUp Britain” when the founders step down next month.
The official handover will be on Thursday March 27, creating future initiatives for real British entrepreneurs instead of the prior focus on small business retail and PopUp Shops.
via StartUp Britain
Mattel announced that an entrepreneur doll would join its “I Can Be” career line as its Career of the Year. The entrepreneur doll sports a sleek pink shift dress and carries a tiny tablet and smartphone.
With nearly 8.6 million female business owners, it’s not a stretch that the new career for women is one she forges herself.
In most cases, to stay truly competitive, hiring the best talent means looking beyond a company’s 50-mile radius. But not all organizations may be ready to expand beyond their existing four walls.
These days, your best job candidates could be 5,000 miles away. With the right attitude and plan in place, relocation packages may be a thing of the past.
via Fast Company


text:
In November 2009, 4.3 million square feet of General Motors property lay idle. The constant humming of machines had vanished — the robots, who normally work tirelessly, were either gone or powered off. The plant, which can hold hundreds of workers, held only silence.
Throw a financially ailing GM into the mix, and the situation did not look so great at the Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township, Mich.
A visit to the plant today, however, exposes a drastically different scenario. Each day, 450 robots are busy assembling parts and scurrying around, almost 2,000 people show up to work and 825 cars roll off the assembly line.
Back in motion
After the 2008-09 auto crisis and the post-bankruptcy changes to GM, the plant was modernized to usher in a new era of auto manufacturing. The entire climate of the auto industry changed. The popularity of SUVs declined dramatically due to high gas prices, and the overall economic mood was low in the wake of the recession.
With the exponential popularity of economy cars in tandem with the threat of higher gas prices, many auto companies expanded their menu of compact and subcompact cars. GM followed suit, spending $545 million in re-tooling the plant to produce the only subcompact car made in America, the Chevrolet Sonic.
The Orion plant is a product of a post-bailout auto industry, with many non-traditional characteristics. The assembly line itself is more compact and has numerous eco-friendly initiatives. The latest four-year United Auto Workers and GM contracts reset entry-level pay rates to an existing wage structure, starting new hires off at $15.50 per hour rates. They also simplified work loads, job classifications and labor strategies as part of the small car agreement.
The Orion plant employs around 40 percent of its staff with entry-level hourly employees — a higher percentage than most local facilities.
“(The contract) is groundbreaking in the sense that it is not traditional in how you might be familiar with the UAW/GM contract,” said Kevin Nadrowski, plant communications manager for the Orion plant. “There are new and different changes that have been implemented to make (the Sonic) successful. This is the first subcompact car built in the U.S., and to make that happen, we had to be creative and work together with the union.”
Sparking a recovery
Carter Sperry, the quality operations manager, said the deal was crucial for the plant’s survival in the U.S., especially where compact and subcompact cars are virtually non-existent.
“We are building in the U.S., where the labor costs are higher and it’s more difficult to make money,” Sperry said. “Traditionally, it has been a very high cost market, so we had to do some very aggressive things here. For example, part of that is entry-level wages, material strategies and job process changes.”
Sperry said the “aggressive” changes were not only reduced wages, but a change in traditional plant structure. Kitting and sequencing — getting parts in order to the line — are done by third parties, which is a non-traditional system in a North American plant. There are companies that build underbodies and some that help with sorting and containing, both of which are non-GM companies.
“This is former work that was traditionally completed by plant employees,” Sperry said.
“Not only was there a partnership with the UAW and GM, but working with the state, local and township officials was an instrumental part of this process to make the Sonic and Buick Verano programs successful at the Orion Assembly Plant,” Nadrowski said.
Gearing up for success
After a year or so of the new products (the Verano was added to the line-up in late 2011) and systems, the plant has stood out in more ways than just being home of the Sonic.
At the revamped plant’s inception, green initiatives were implemented, which has reduced their energy bill from $18 million to $11 million, utilizing trash, technology and the sun. Steve Brock, the plant’s manager, said several unique steps have been taken by the plant to reduce its carbon footprint.
“A lot of (our energy usage) is generated by the landfill gas … we use that versus using natural gas,” Brock said. “We are very focused on the environment.”
According to a GM sustainability report, the nearby landfill supplies over 20 percent of the plant’s energy needs. Computers control the already eco-friendly fluorescent lights, shutting them off during every break.
The latest in green technology, according to Brock and a GM press release, will be solar array that will supply enough energy to power 45 homes.
“(The energy) all goes back to the power grid,” Brock said.
The UAW declined to comment.


text:
The willingness of smartphone users to pay bills online has sparked a sudden surge in the use of BPAY’s online billing product BPAY View a full 12 years after it was created.
Between March 2013 and March 2014, the number of users registered to BPAY View jumped by 21 per cent. This growth rate has tailed off since then but the 2014 financial year was up 18.6 per cent, with 4.2 million active BPAY View registrations.
“We have seen, in the last 12 to 18 months, from both consumers and businesses, a tipping point in their willingness to use new technology and that plays particularly well for BPAY and e-presentment," said
“We have seen the number of billers almost double in the past year."
BPAY, which is owned by the big banks, has also been targeting small business and government bill issuers. The number of BPAY View billers jumped 137 per cent between March 2013 and March 2014, off a low base.
“BPAY has 45,000 billers, BPAY View has about 175.
“It will be a couple of hundred by the end of the year [but] it will all just move across to digital over time," he said.
Its growth has coincided with the advent of competition from Australia Post and Computershare. But they have found it hard to make inroads against the incumbent, which is owned by the four big banks. Computershare shut its Digital Post Australia in July.
Australia Post’s MyPost Digital Mailbox is offering a similar service, which also allows customers to receive and pay bills in one place as well as store other important documents.
BPAY has also benefited from confusion over
Australia Post took Computershare to court alleging trademark infringement but the Federal Court rejected the charge in December 2013. Australia Post subsequently renamed its service from Digital MailBox to MyPost Digital Mailbox.
An Australia Post spokeswoman declined to say how many businesses or consumers had signed up so far.
But she said “thousands of Australians" were using the service, which would soon include information such as “parcel tracking, retail receipts and [ability to] change address".
The competition has prompted BPAY to launch much greater marketing and advertising campaigns to get consumers to use BPAY View as paper bills decline. This has also driven big rises in take-up.
Banks see BPAY as a globally unique asset they can use to defend against a host of new competitors entering the payments arena. But there are still many billers that don’t offer BPAY View, such as government departments and small businesses.
Mr Brown said banks charge billers to offer BPAY and would make a profit on it. But it is mainly seen as a way to keep customers coming back to banks rather than opting for a nascent payments competitor.
“It [adds] stickiness. When it is a single place for bill receipt, bill payments but also your super account, savings account and home loan all in one place, then there is more reason for consumers to stay there and take up other services with the bank," he said.
He said their biggest competitor is still people paying their biller directly.
Figures from a BPAY survey of consumers at the end of last year show while 34 per cent of people pay bills with BPAY, 24 per cent still pay their biller directly, 21 per cent via direct debit and 7 per cent via Australia Post.
The number of people receiving a digital bill is about 82 per cent, up from 39 per cent in 2007. That compares to 88 per cent of those receiving a paper bill (many still receive a mix of both).
The Australian Financial Review


text:
Physic Ventures, a San Francisco venture firm that invests in companies focused on healthcare and sustainable living for consumers, has finished raising its first fund of $159 million.
Managing director Will Rosenzweig said that where traditional life science investors put money into things like drugs that are reimbursed by health-care providers, Physic will invest in products over which consumers have more decision power. A complete map of potential investment areas can be found here.
Physic started off in April 2007 with a $125 million commitment from consumer goods giant Uniliver, which was later reduced to take on investments from institutions, pension funds and strategic investors.
The firm seeks to exploit synergies between its strategic investors, like Unilever and healthcare giant Humana, and its various portfolio companies. Dreamerz Food products, for example, are carried in Pharmaca stores — another Physic investment.
Previous reports indicated that Physic had raised $190 million; Rosenzweig says the fund was oversubscribed to that amount, but the investment was cut back, and Unilever’s portion reduced to about half of the total.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn more about membership.


text:
So, there is a good news for the mobile app users BHIM, as they will be rolling in the cash very soon. As the BHIM app is going to present the cash back scheme on the usage of the app. The cash back facility is already provided by the Paytm and Mobiwik apps, and users really appreciate this cash back scheme and this has helped them to increase the number of satisfied customers.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has proposed government to start the cash back scheme from the independence day, 15th August. As of now BHIM app users only get Rs. 10-25 cash back. That’s on the app recommendation only. For example, if you recommend this app to your friend you will receive Rs. 10 in return and if your friend further recommends to someone else then he or she will get Rs. 25.
BHIMs Independence Day gift!
As per the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and CEO A. P. Hota, they have proposed the cash back offers to the Govt., and is right now waiting for their approval. The CEO is hopeful to receive government approval soon to launch the massive cash back scheme around the independence day to lure more customers into this app.
He shared his views on the news, “We have communicated to the government that the cash back incentives need to be increased so that more people will start using it. We are waiting for the approval from the government which is expected by August 15.”
BHIM app is nice but lacks lots of features that Paytm offers to the user’s and thus this is the initiative taken by the BHIM development team to improve its performance.
QR Code will be introduced to attract customers!
QR Code system is very popular and easy method launched by Paytm to ease out the transfer of cash by NPCI. On the footsteps of the Paytm BHIM app will also provide the QR code facility to their users. BHIM app is going for one major app update this independence day and many new features will be hoped to introduced in the app.
Talking with the CEO of BHIM app,”We are also in the final stages of launching version 1.4 of BHIM, which will make transactions smoother on the app. Among other updates, Bharat quick response (QR) code will be integrated into the app which should be another booster for increasing transactions on BHIM.”
Boom in the UPI payments.
With the impact of demonetization step of Indian government and with the increase in the awareness among the people about digitization, the UPI payment has increased multiple times in the Indian. Only in the last month, about 1 crore funds were transferred using the UPI payment method. This tells the story of growth and success in the UPI system in the past few months.
As per RBI data, usage of e-Wallets is decreasing, compared to UPI, and this is excellent news for NPCI. The numerous service providers such as Uber, WhatsApp, Hike, along with IRCTC has already transferred to the UPI based payment system. The market of the UPI based payment system is very hot nowadays and every company is planning to dive in this buzzing market.
But, the million dollars question here is that will BHIM along with the UPI is able to beat the Paytm. Now, that’s really interesting question and for the answer, we have to wait for the new BHIM strategy to over power Paytm.


text:
Atm Withdrawal Limit – Now Withdrawing Money From Atm Will Be Expensive, Reserve Bank Increased This Fee – If you withdraw money from the other bank’s ATM rather than your bank, then extra money are going to be deducted on the transaction quite the free limit. Now you’ll need to pay more charges if you cross the limit of free transactions in your bank’s ATM also.
Atm Withdrawal Limit – Now Withdrawing Money From Atm Will Be Expensive, Reserve Bank Increased This Fee
Now for the bank customers, the transaction of quite the free limit during a month from the ATM are going to be costly. The RBI has increased the customer charge and non-bank ATM charges to be charged from the purchasers .
The Reserve Bank Of India of India (RBI) has increased the interchange fee on ATM transactions. this suggests that if you withdraw money from an ATM of the other bank rather than your bank, then you’ll get extra money for the transaction quite the free limit. This increase will inherit effect on 1st August , 2021.
Increased customer charge
Similarly, the RBI has also increased the limit of customer charge from Rs 20 to Rs 21 per transaction. this suggests that if you cross the limit of free transactions in your bank’s ATM, you’ll now need to pay more. The reserve bank said that these new charges also will be applicable for cash recycler machines. However, this increase are going to be applicable from January 1, 2022.
The RBI has increased the interchange fee from Rs 15 to Rs 17 for financial transactions in the least bank ATMs. Likewise, the charge for non-monetary exchanges has been expanded from Rs.5 to Rs.6. Financial transaction means to withdraw money, similarly non-financial transaction means to seek out out balance etc.
Transaction costly over the limit
It is worth noting that no charge is charged from customers for transactions made up of other bank’s ATMs thrice monthly in metro cities and five times in non-metro cities. then it gets charged. That is, if you transacted quite this limit, then now it’ll be expensive.
In June 2019, a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of the top of the Indian Banks Association. this alteration has been made on the idea of his recommendations. during a statement, the RBI said, “The recommendations of the committee are widely considered. it had been also observed that the primary change within the interchange fee on ATM transactions was wiped out August 2012. Similarly, the last change within the charge to be taken from the customer was in August 2014.
It is worth noting that banks give free transactions to their customers up to a particular limit from their ATMs, then they also levy charges. The RBI says that customers will get five transactions financial or non-financial monthly from their bank ATMs for free of charge .


text:
The signs are everywhere that the holiday season is upon us: Black Friday bargains, Cyber Monday steals, and those “skip a payment” offers from lenders that give consumers a month off from paying credit card bills, car payments, and other debt. Some of them come right out and say that you could use the extra money for holiday shopping.
So what’s the catch?
“For lenders, it allows them to stretch out the loan,” says Gerri Detweiler, director of consumer education for Credit.com. She says skipping a payment won’t hurt your credit rating, but the amount you owe will increase. “You’re going to pay more interest and the loan will take you longer to pay off, so you’re sort of prolonging the agony, if you will.”
Some consumers might not mind paying more in the end, but personal finance expert Lauren Lyons Cole says those who carry a credit card balance from month to month should never skip payments.
“That’s already an indication that you may have an overspending problem,” Cole explains. “There are so many things you could do besides spending money that you don’t already have. You know you could… bake something for people, I mean that takes a lot of time, and everybody loves to eat.”
Especially around the holidays…
As a nonprofit news organization, our future depends on listeners like you who believe in the power of public service journalism.
Your investment in Marketplace helps us remain paywall-free and ensures everyone has access to trustworthy, unbiased news and information, regardless of their ability to pay.
Donate today — in any amount — to become a Marketplace Investor. Now more than ever, your commitment makes a difference.


text:
Anthony Pompliano makes it a habit to show his social media followers the differences between cryptocurrency and fiat money. He took to Twitter once again to display the difference in time and fees one would spend to send money abroad.
He sent out a tweet including a chart from blockdata.tech that displayed just how long it takes to send money overseas using traditional financial methods.
Bitcoin is cheaper & faster than the most popular remittance platforms. pic.twitter.com/i0gsWxcWMF
— Pomp ? (@APompliano) March 13, 2019
Then Ran Neuner, the host of CNBC’s “Crypto Trader” jumped into the conversation to let everyone know that Ripple’s XRP can move even faster and cheaper.
And XRP is faster and cheaper than Bitcoin… https://t.co/TB169Bzr85
— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) March 13, 2019
The graphic shown in Pompliano’s tweet shows the cost in fees for users of traditional remittance platforms alongside various cryptocurrencies. The chart uses total seconds for emphasis. Seconds are used in the graphic to show just how stark the difference in transaction times are. Bitcoin takes only 4680 seconds on average to send funds while Western Union takes 3 to 5 days or 432000 seconds to complete a transaction. The WU transaction will also come tagged with a much astronomical fee when compared to Bitcoin.
Other popular remittance platforms such as Remitly and MoneyGram have similar transaction times. Even the fastest of the traditional remittance platforms still pales in comparison to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions.
Transfast sounds speedy, but it takes 2 to 4 days or 172800 seconds to complete an international.
If Bitcoin’s fees and transaction times make people’s heads turn, then Ripple is even more astounding. By using XRP you can turn that 4680-second wait into just 4 seconds. And the fees are minuscule even compared to Bitcoin.
Ripple is already starting to make headway in the international remittance industry. While investors and developers within the cryptocurrency community argue over the level of centralization or decentralization, bankers and other traditional financial leaders have taken notice of what Ripple can bring to the table.
The belief that XRP could soon be the most popular way to send funds around the world is picking up steam as blockchain becomes mainstream.


text:
India’s largest scooter manufacturer HMSI (Honda Motor Scooter & India Ltd.), is all set to launch refreshed model of CBR250 by the end of February 2012. The new refreshed CBR250R will get tri-color scheme which HMSI showcased at Auto Expo 2012. With the new tri-color scheme CBR250R will become Rs.1,500 dearer compared to its earlier version.
Naresh Rattan, vice-president, sales and marketing, HMSI said “The company is due to launch the CBR 250R shortly in the market. The new bike has gone under production by the middle of this month. There is no dearth of demand for premium priced bikes in India despite a broader slowdown in demand for the commuter bikes witnessed by a few players. The market is growing rapidly even is such times. There have been issues relating to components shortage due to the recent floods in Thailand which has impacted local production. This matter is being sorted out before we launch the new version. “
It is to be noted that CBR250R sales has gone down in the month of January 2012 to under 140 units compared to 2,500 units – 3,000 units a month average. The major reasons for dip in sales are shortage of parts and introduction of new motorcycle from competition. HMSI is launching the refreshed version to stabilize the sales. It is also phasing out the current version of CBR250R from the market. It is also planning to launch CBR150 in the month of March. It seems that HMSI will leave no stone unturned to retain and strengthen its position in premium segment.
– Mahavir Kothari


text:
NEW DELHI: With companies looking at a “China-plus one” strategy in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, India presents an “attractive” opportunity as a manufacturing destination with availability of skilled labour force and young consumer base, a senior HMD Global executive said on Monday.
“There is an ambition of making India a global hub for mobile devices specifically, and what COVID-19 has done has kind of accelerated the process...COVID-19 has driven companies to follow the China-plus one strategy when it comes to manufacturing and supply chain,” HMD Global vice-president — corporate business development Ajey Mehta said at CII’s Horasis India Meeting. HMD Global sells mobile phones under Nokia brand.
“We already have the demographic dividend of a young consumer base. Added to that, India’s low per capita income and the skilled labour makes it a really attractive destination for companies to come in set up units,” Mehta added.
Smartphone usage has gone up by almost two hours per day in India, and data consumption has risen by 30 per cent as people work and study from home.
On collaboration with countries like Vietnam, which is among major manufacturing hubs apart from China, for mobile manufacturing, Mehta said, it is impossible to develop products in isolation from other countries for any industry.
“There needs to be deep collaboration with countries in the supply chain, there needs to be a global supply chain system to deliver products. So even if you’re manufacturing in any one place, you have to rely on other places for the manufacturing,” he added.
Flaws with india
- A report by ICEA-EY had outlined that India needs to have a better policy support
- India also suffers from various disabilities like high cost of power and tax.


text:
Devolver Digital and Majesco Entertainment, the publishers and distributors of the game, confirmed the Shadow Warrior’s reboot, developed by the Poland-based studio Flying Wild Hog, release on next-gen platforms.
The game, a resurrection of the 1997 3D-Realms FPS, was released last year on PC. It was quickly picked as a nostalgic gem, and received a generally positive reception, from critics and gamers alike. The PC and Xbox One versions are to be made available at the reduced price of $39.99. At the time of writing, no price has been confirmed for other regions.
"Shadow Warrior turns the 90's nostalgia meter way up, delivering big guns, big blades and big attitude laced with humour. This is a must have title for every kind of fan: those who loved the original game, FPS enthusiasts and players looking for a deep next gen experience at a legacy price point. We're proud to partner with Devolver to bring this highly rated game to the console audience." Majesco's CEO Jesse Sutton said in a statement.
The original Shadow Warrior was a tongue-in-cheek FPS in the veins of Duke Nukem, developed by 3D Realms. The game was a spoof of Kung Fu movies, featuring a protagonist named Lo Wang, who was fighting against the gigantic corporation Zilla Enterprise.


text:
Not many shop owners grin, on camera, when they tell you how expensive their goods are.  But Moery Najib, who owns Emiles Fruit and Veg in the Balmain district of Sydney, knows that his prices aren’t exceptional.
All over Australia people are paying astronomical amounts for bananas.
The fruit cost $3 a kilo a year ago, today Moery’s selling his for more than $20. A single banana - a normal sized banana - costs $4.
By freezing interest rates at 4.75 per cent on Tuesday, it seems Australia’s central bank has decided that the country’s inflation rate - 3.6 per cent - is high for temporary rather than structural reasons, and bananas may be a big part of that.
Their dramatic rise in price is because of Cyclone Yasi which hit Queensland’s banana plantations in February, wiping out nearly 90 per cent of the domestic supply.
The cyclone was not the sole reason for the spike in banana prices.  Many economists argue that Australia's trade politices contributed - foreign imports weren't allowed in to offset the domestic shock.
Australia makes it close to impossible for, say, Filipino growers to satisfy strict quarantine requirements.
I had thought this was simple protectionism - to pacify a strong domestic farming lobby.  So it came as a surprise to hear an economist making the farmers’ case.
He though, is in a minority - this is a view more typical.
The argument is that the costs to an entire nation having to forego what would, ordinarily, be a staple food, outweighs any spurious risk of fruit 'disease' from abroad.
This goes broader than bananas.
As a relative newcomer to Australia, I’m constantly surprised at the high cost of food across the board here.
A standard chocolate bar - when I could afford them, Snickers used to be my favourite - costs the equivalent of US$3 in the supermarket, a small punnet of strawberries is US$5 most sandwich shops in Sydney charge around US$10 for a basic BLT.
The high Australian dollar - US$1.10 this week - has a lot to do with high costs in US dollar terms, but it can’t explain the full extent of the high prices.
Instead, I put a lot of it down to the enormous pride there is here on eating Australian food.
But would that pride be quite as strong if the average Australian realised how much extra they pay to "eat domestic"?


text:
The inability of ports in Europe, the US and elsewhere to keep pace with the relentless growth in Asian, especially China’s, shipping facilities and overseas trade is already leading to increased personal injury and handling equipment incidents, the TT Club has warned. The specialist transport insurer, which provides property and liability cover for over 2,000 port and terminal facilities worldwide, fears an ever-growing number of accidents, some fatal, that will blight Western waterfronts unless ports can adapt to unprecedented change.
TT Club’s chief executive Paul Neagle told delegates at Containerisation International’s Global Liner Shipping Conference last month that, according to a recent International Herald Tribune report, China alone has 639 new deep water berths on the drawing board that will become operational by 2010. In 2006, Chinese exports grew by 27 per cent in volume terms, eclipsing the 20 per cent growth in imports. Logically, he said, this should lead to comparable growth in other regions to handle the additional post-Panamax generation of ships that are being ordered to service soaring Chinese exports and imports.
“However, unlike in China,” observed Mr Neagle, “in Europe, the United States and Australasia there are a large number of constraints on expansion of port facilities. We have already witnessed examples of this around the world,” he said, referring to issues such as congestion, planning permission, dredging and waste disposal that have sunk or stalled proposed expansion plans across the world’s consumer economies.
The club predicts that, as long as port and terminal operators are unable to find ways to overcome expansion difficulties, there will be growing pressure on terminals and their working practices as they struggle to handle volumes that are increasing by 10 per cent or more a year.


text:
Worldwide: Global hotel brand Nobu, a collaboration between Chef Nobu Matsuhita, actor Robert DeNiro and Meir Teper has announced eight properties in its 2020 pipeline.
The group hopes to continue its expansion, while maintaining its design centred luxury identity.
The first announced opening is in the brand’s Warsaw branch, which will occupy a new building in downtown Warsaw on the 75th anniversary of the second world war. The building, a collaboration between polish firm Medusa Group and California based Studio PCH, will take design cues from the building it is replacing, the original hotel Rialto.
The chain is also opening a pair of offerings in the US, in Palo Alto and Chicago respectively. Both are on the smaller end, with under 120 rooms in both, but offer unique features to each area, with tech centred design to mirror Silicon Valley, and a sleek, modernist design to supplement Chicago’s urban history.
Nobu’s hotel Portman Square has already found a general manager, with news breaking that Grant Campbell will take over the role. The hotel seeks to place Japanese minimalist design principles, core to the hotel’s brand, in the midst of London’s busy theatre district.
The group’s fifth opening will be in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, placed inside a sleek 23 story Skyscraper. It fuses Arabian and Japanese architectural styles, while also providing unique cultural fusion through the kingdom’s first Nobu restaurant.


text:
Twitch is now testing a new way for viewers to donate money to their favorite streamers in the form of new emote and microtransaction systems called “Cheers” and “Bits.”
When Amazon bought Twitch for $970 million in 2014, some longtime fans of the streaming site didn’t know what to expect. Twitch had grown its membership base organically, and the idea of a corporate company worth billions swooping in to take control left some nervous about the future. Still, Amazon promised Twitch would remain independent and said that very little would change. For the most part, that promise has held up.
But Monday, Twitch introduced “Cheers”, a new option for viewers who want to donate money to their favorite streamers and it looks like it will give Amazon a significant new source of revenue. “Cheers” is a new emote option on Twitch that is powered by a microtransaction system called “Bits.” Viewers can only “cheer” for a streamer in Twitch chat by paying money.
Twitch explained the details on its blog:
Cheering is a new way to show support for streamers and celebrate the moments you love with the community, all right in chat. A Cheer is a chat message that uses Bits, which are evolving animated emotes that you can buy. Bits emotes can be used one by one, all at once, or anywhere in between. Using many at once shows more support and creates cooler emotes!
Cheering shows your support for the partner just like subscriptions do, and as you Cheer in a channel, you earn Cheer Chat Badges for that channel so that your support is recognized.
Essentially, “cheering” is a way of donating money through an alternate currency. Viewers will give money to Twitch in exchange for Bits and then those Bits can be donated by the viewer to their favorite streamer through the Cheer emote system. All purchases of Bits will go through Amazon Payments where a one-time transaction of $1.40 will get fans 100 bits and higher denominations are available from there.
But here’s where it gets interesting. According to a thread on the Twitch Reddit, Twitch may be taking a significant portion of money off the top when it’s time to convert the donated Cheers/Bits back into real money for the streamers. To be clear, Amazon has not confirmed anything yet, but some early reports indicate that Twitch could be taking a cut of up to 29 percent.
It’s worth pointing out, as many have on Reddit, that if a fan donates money to a streamer through PayPal, which is the method most streamers currently use, PayPal’s cut is only about 3%. Theoretically, if all of the money donated on Twitch today was sent through the Bits system instead, streamers would lose a good chunk of their income due to Twitch/Amazon taking its cut off the top.
To be fair, other fans have pointed out that an alternate currency that is officially sanctioned by Twitch might actually encourage more people to donate money than would otherwise do so. Twitch officially getting behind donations could also potentially stop or lower PayPal chargeback attempts by troll viewers.
Overall, early feedback on the changes doesn’t seem especially positive but it may be a while until this all shakes out. Bits can only be purchased right now for a limited list of approved Twitch Partners. Twitch said on its blog that it hopes to roll the new system out to all Partners in the near future. No word yet on when or if non-partners will be able to get in on the action. If “Bits” does prove to be successful, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Google’s YouTube Gaming follow suit. In the meantime, Twitch will continue to work on other major projects, like developing a program to combat racism in its chat channels.


text:
Pups on Pizza Boxes: How One New York Pizzeria Is Encouraging Customers to Adopt Shelter Animals
It's adorable, and it's finding pets forever homes.
Everyone has different opinions when it comes to pizza. I'm just a plain cheese girl (extra, if possible), and I always need to pair it with an ice-cold Diet Coke. But there's a new combination coming from a pizzeria in Amherst, New York that everyone can agree on: A pie and an opportunity to adopt an animal in need.
The plan started when Kimberly LaRussa, the event coordinator at Niagara SPCA, saw an article about a pizza shop putting flyers for lost dogs on their boxes. "I said, 'Oh, that's really cool.' I thought it would be really neat to put adoptable dogs on pizza boxes to find them homes," LaRussa explains. The first person LaRussa thought to contact about the idea was Mary Alloy, owner of the Just Wing & Pizza Co. franchise in Amherst.
Alloy, who's owned the business for 12 and a half years, helps out with many organizations in her community, including the Niagara SPCA. "I've always told [LaRussa], if there's anything you need, just call me," Alloy says. "She texted me and said, 'What would you think about putting adoptable dogs on your pizza boxes?' and I said, 'Sure.'"
Customers began receiving the new and improved containers on Friday, February 28. The women say the promotion has been beneficial to both the restaurant and the animal shelter. "Our business has gone up about 20%," Alloy says. "People are loving it."
LaRussa notes that more than 10 animals have been adopted since the start of the project. A week ago, they also started including cats on the flyers. "It's been really great to see," LaRussa says. "When I go on our website, and it's time to print more flyers, I don't have as many animals that need to be adopted. Just yesterday, I dropped off flyers for a cat and a dog, and they've already been adopted." The boxes have brought so much awareness, that LaRussa says other pizzerias in the area have contacted her and want to get involved as well. The Little Bakery, a local bakeshop, began including flyers of adoptable animals with their loaves of bread.
As far as a timeline for how long Alloy's pizzeria will use the flyers, well, there isn't one. "We're just going to do it forever," she says. "We never expected this. "It was just, 'Oh, we'll make the copies and put them on boxes.' We never expected it to be like this. There are other places that are following our lead now. It's just great."


text:
Disney’s annual excuse to print money arrives today, with a focus this year on a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars is the name of the game, with the 3.0 edition of Disney Infinity dropping Jedi, Sith and scruffy nerf herders into the toybox this year. So, is it any good? Well here’s what the critics had to say.
Here’s all the news we didn’t (and did) post because we were too busy getting ready to acquire YouTube fame by posting a video of Darryn stabbing Alessandro over 9000 times with his inflatable Frostmourne sword


text:
Amidst the lockdown extension (opens in new tab) just announced yesterday in India, many electronic appliances such as TVs, refrigerators and specifically, mobile phones have started failing their owners. As per a report, as many as five million mobile phones and 70,000 refrigerations are in critical need of repair.
Things could get even worse within the coming weeks as service complaints pile up each day. As many as 11,000 complaints are being registered daily, said an executive of one of the top-three smartphone brands in India. Xiaomi, which is the biggest seller, has also admitted to a substantial increase in consumer queries. An LG executive noted that consumers are using ACs without getting them serviced properly which increases their chance of failure. Needless to say, all repair services from brands are currently unavailable as they don’t qualify for essential services.
This is an alarming situation as many of these appliances can easily be considered essential services. Especially refrigerators and ACs are critically important as temperatures soar during summer and food supplies need to be conserved for a longer duration. If it’s any comfort, most smartphone brands have recently extended their warranty periods to avoid
Hence, The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has suggested to the ministry of home affairs that at least small agencies or individual be allowed to provide this critical service.
The data has been collated (opens in new tab) by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA). Both organizations have also urged the government to declare these services as essential.
The government has extended the lockdown till May 3rd, however, some relaxation norms may be declared on April 20. Also, some vital industries will be given the green lights to resume work under tight guidelines.
Via ET Telecom (opens in new tab)
- Report: India sees no bump in Wifi consumption on mobile during lockdown (opens in new tab)


text:
We've already shown you the first three concept vehicles that will be shown off by Jeep at the 46th Annual Moab Easter Safari but here are the other three as promised.
Read This Article
It would appear Chrysler Group is on the right path with the redesign of many of its models, its new Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6 engine, and recently announced eight-speed transmission.
Chrysler has issued a recall on 210,000 of its model year 2004-2005 Jeep Liberty SUVs.
SEMA, or the Specialty Equipment Market Association, has announced the winners of its second-annual Hottest Cars award for the 2011 SEMA aftermarket trade show, currently going on in Las Vegas.


text:
Americans' pay is up, fewer people need unemployment aid, more are buying new homes and business spending is rebounding.
A flurry of data released Wednesday signaled that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain solid, if unspectacular, three weeks before the Federal Reserve will likely begin raising interest rates.
Consumers appear relatively confident in the economy and may be poised to spend a decent chunk of their rising incomes during the holiday shopping season. In addition, businesses are stepping up their investment in machinery and equipment, removing a persistent drag on the economy.
The steady consumer and business demand in the United States is powering...


text:
From chefs, to baristas, to bartenders and front of house staff, each year the Felix Wellington hospitality awards celebrate the crème de la crème of the city’s culinary scene.
The winners were announced at Te Papa on 11 September along with the Wellington on a Plate festival winners. The top five burgers, dishes, and cocktails from the festival were chosen through online public ratings, after which a foodie panel of judges had a week of taste testing to make the tricky final decision.
Here’s who came out on top:
Felix Wellington hospitality awards winners 2022
L’affare Outstanding Barista Tim Norris, Customs Coffee Supreme


text:
Plastic furniture manufacturer Pil Italica Lifestyle on Monday said it plans to expand its base in the five states of southern India by setting up or acquiring or leasing additional manufacturing facilities and aims to increase production by 3,600 metric tonnes per annum.
The company is also looking to set up fulfilment centres in Hyderabad and Chennai.
"The company plans to expand its base in the 5 states of Southern India by setting up or acquiring or leasing additional manufacturing facilities to increase production by 3,600 MT per annum," Pil Italica Lifestyle said in a regulatory filing.
The company said to cater to the Southern India market, the company is planning to set up fulfilment centres in Hyderabad and Chennai.
At present, it has a fulfilment centre in Bengaluru.
"These fulfilment centres will provide faster distribution to our current distributors and dealers and will also enable the company to expand further and faster across Southern India," it noted.
The company said it will announce its ambitious five-year mega expansion plan at its annual general meeting (AGM) on June 24, 2021.
Pil Italica Lifestyle is a moulded plastic furniture manufacturer.
Its product portfolio includes plastic chairs, tables, trolley, sun loungers, crates, storage bins and waste bins. These products are made in the company's industrial unit spread across 18,500 sq mt in Udaipur, Rajasthan.


text:
Cramer says buying Sirius would jump-start Apple's stalled stock.
Cramer says he doesn't understand the obsession some investors have with the Federal Reserve. Forget the Fed.
The tech giant's rivals have to be pleased with how Apple is embracing two big mobile trends.
Bloomberg News's Caleb Melby joined this afternoon's 'Bloomberg Markets' to break down Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook's compensation over the past five years.


text:
Video Gamer Play // PlayStation Store unveils festive game sale
PlayStation Store unveils festive game sale
In preparation for Christmas and, presumably, the festive themes of charity and giving, the PlayStation Store has announced a raft of discounts on digital downloads. Indie darlings and big-budget behemoths alike have been included. Stick with us as we sift through those deals, which comprise everything from Bloodborne to What Remains of Edith Finch.
However, if physical games are more your style, you can nab all the latest AAA games in the vein of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, FIFA 19 and Battlefield 5 for around £30 a piece as part of the GAME bundle sale – which gives you pairs of games costing up to £60 for both. The titles cover both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and there are plenty to choose from. Now, onto the PlayStation Store deals, which terminate at midnight tonight.
Notably, horror nightmare Bloodborne is 50 percent off, bringing it down to a totally not fiendish £7.99. In addition, if endless despair and bludgeoning are your bag, you can’t go too far wrong with Dark Souls 3 – currently down to £12.99.
- This Amnesia mod offers a new tale without the “chases, scares, or mind-bending monster encounters” February 17, 2019
- Tech Interview: Metro Exodus, ray tracing and the 4A Engine’s open world upgrades February 17, 2019
- Final Fantasy 15’s Regalia vehicle is coming to Forza Horizon. Again February 17, 2019
- Despite a promising demo, PSVR adventure game Eden Tomorrow ends up disappointing February 17, 2019
- A Final Fantasy 14 float is joining this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras February 17, 2019
- Here’s when you can swing Negan’s baseball bat, Lucille, in Tekken 7 February 17, 2019
- The past, present and future of OlliOlli February 17, 2019
- Respawn has already banned over 16,000 Apex Legends cheaters February 16, 2019
- FIFA 19 has a new cover – and Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t on it February 16, 2019
- Metro Exodus: a vision for the future of graphics technology February 16, 2019


text:
The government’s big ethanol push is driving up the prices of everything including a night at the movies. I just heard on the news that the price of popcorn has increased due to higher corn prices as more corn is being used to produce ethanol. It is time to think like an investor and put a hedge in place to offset rising prices at the grocery store as well as the movie theater. Purchase a few of these agriculture stocks and not only will it make up for the higher prices, but it will put a few extra bucks in your pocket.
Our survey begins with the Capital Goods & Services sector - home of Farming Machinery giant Deere Company. Deere is a household name, but have you heard of CNH Global NV (NYSE:CNH)? The company is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It manufactures and distributes agricultural and construction equipment worldwide. The company generates $13B in revenue - making it about half the size of Deere. As the saying goes, good things come in small packages as the market has bid it up 90% year to date.
Next up is Cal Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) a member of the Consumer Services Sector. I owned CALM, an egg producer, several years ago during the Atkins diet fad. I had completely forgotten about it until a reader reminded me of it.
The Chemical-Specialty stocks in the Materials sector are just downright internet like. Farmers anxious to capitalize on higher commodity prices are not thinking twice about using the best fertilizers. Take your pick Terra Nitrogen (NYSE:TNH), CF Industries (NYSE:CF) or Mosaic (NYSE:MOS): 286%, 136% and 79% year to date returns respectively.
Agribusiness and Food Products reside in the Consumer Goods Sector. Dr. Marc Faber, who predicted the U.S. stock market crash in 1987, is quite fond of investing in farmland. Cresud (NASDAQ:CRESY) may be a good way for small investors to gain exposure non-US farmland. Cresud is an Argentine agricultural company whose businesses include grain production (soybeans, wheat, sunflowers and corn), beef and milk production, forestry and it owns 1.28 million acres of land. Cresud is up 25% year to date.
The Food Products industry completes our survey. I assumed that it was too far down stream, but look at jewels in this sector. Do you think that there will be a bumper crop in avocados this year? Calavo (NASDAQ:CVGW) which engages in the procurement and marketing of avocados is your play. It must have been a nice crop, because the stock is up 26% year to date. How about a combination emerging markets and Ag play? Industrias Bachoco (NYSE:IBA) a Mexican egg producer would be the ticket. However, the crown jewel goes to chicken processors. Chicken neck ringer Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ:SAFM) is up 50% this year.


text:
MONTRÉAL, Feb. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bombardier (TSX: BBD.B) will publish its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2019 on Thursday, February 13, 2020 and hold a live webcast/conference call to review the results starting at 8 a.m. Eastern Time (EDT). Alain Bellemare, President and Chief Executive Officer; John Di Bert, […]
CNH INDUSTRIAL N.V. CNH INDUSTRIAL N.V. The IVECO manufacturing facility in Ulm, Germany, will host the production hub for the Nikola TRE battery electric and fuel-cell electric heavy-duty truck models. London, February 6, 2020 IVECO and FPT Industrial, the commercial vehicle and powertrain brands of CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI/ MI: CNHI), and Nikola Motor Company […]
LEAWOOD, Kan., Feb. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), a leading global financial technology solutions and payments provider, today announced it will provide integration and content aggregation services through APIs from its REV™ Payments Cloud to add mobile recharges, bill payments, gift cards, consumer software, and other offerings to Amazon India. In addition […]
Sanofi delivers strong 2019 business EPS growth of 6.8% at CER Q4 2019 Change Change at CER 2019 Change Change at CER IFRS net sales reported €9,608m +6.8% +4.7% €36,126m +4.8% +2.8% IFRS net income reported -€10m -103.9%(2) – €2,806m -34.8%(2) – IFRS EPS reported -€0.01 -105.0%(2) – €2.24 -35.1%(2) – Business net income(1) […]
Overview: In East Africa, harvest is complete for main season cereals in the north of the subregion and yields were favourable except in Sudan and South Sudan due to flood damage, socioeconomic impacts, and conflict, and parts of Ethiopia due to dry co...


text:
UK ad spend is set to have the strongest recovery of the major markets in 2021, according to AA/WARC report
Analysis of activity by CRM platform HubSpot’s customers has revealed UK consumers opening more marketing emails this month than at any other point during the pandemic.
Brands should anticipate a surge in consumer spending over the coming weeks, as lockdown restrictions begin to lift.
Research reveals that over half of marketing leaders concede they are struggling to effectively execute multi-channel campaigns.
Telecoms advertising will grow at an average rate of 4.5% a year to 2023, following an 8.7% decline in 2020, according to Zenith.
New research by Carphone Warehouse has revealed the top ten countries where people spend the most on apps.
The 2020 IPA Agency Census, published today, has revealed that staff numbers in IPA member agencies have been seriously impacted by Covid-19.
While UK health and beauty retailers have vastly improved their ecommerce offerings during lockdown, their post-purchase customer experience (CX) lags behind that of other retail sectors.
A majority of consumers are highly influenced by a brand’s purpose and impacts consumers’ buying decisions and feelings about products.


text:
Bluboo Maya Max will debut with 6-inch display and Aluminum shell
Bluboo is a brand we have been keeping an eye on over the past few years. The Picasso was the last device we covered from the company, but a new smartphone dubbed the Bluboo Maya Max has recently gotten our attention.
Let’s face it, we love specs. While you have to have a solid OS running the show, there’s nothing like having a snappy handset that breezes through games and apps with ease. That power comes at a cost though, which is where handsets like the Bluboo Maya Max come into the picture. It’s going to be far cheaper than devices like the Galaxy S7, but should have plenty of pop to go along with a sleek design and a few flagship features.
Phablets are the way to go these days, but Bluboo decided to go a little larger with a 6-inch panel that features a resolution of 1,280 x 720. The resolution isn’t quite FHD, but the phone isn’t likely to die on you anytime soon thanks to a large 4,200mAh battery. The processor is unknown at this time but should be of the quad to octa-core variety based on the company’s most recent releases.
The device should be a looker as well with a sleek aluminum alloy frame, and while we don’t know how much storage or RAM you’ll get just yet, other details are locks. Dual-SIM card slots, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the usual sensors should be present along with 4G LTE while Android 6.0 will run the show.
We are unsure of when the Bluboo Maya Max will launch, but expect a formal announcement on a release date in the very near future. As for the price, that is up in the air along with the rest of the specs, so we’ll be sure to bring you the news once more details surface.


text:
FTC acting chief hints at hardline enforcement approach
Acting US Federal Trade Commission chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter has suggested the agency should use its full arsenal to tackle companies that have grown powerful off the back of troves of consumer data.
To read more
Subscribe to Global Data Review
Subscribe and start reading now
The one-stop information source and community touchpoint, with coverage from across the areas of
- Data protection


text:
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo has said that the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) was designed to boost industrialisation and promote manufacturing.
He said this at the just-concluded ninth Propak Exhibition and Conference in Lagos.
He noted that manufacturing plays a vital role in modern global economy as the demand for consumer goods is consistently on the rise.
According to him, countries who wish to remain relevant and maintain competitiveness must give the desired attention to the manufacturing sector as it has been described as the basis on which a nation’s economic efficiency is compared, ranked and determined.”
He added that industries thrive locally when they compete on a global platform urging stakeholders in the sector to team up with the government to ensure that Nigeria becomes a global player.
Adebayo, who gave the keynote address and was represented by the ministry’s Deputy Director, Mrs Olumuyiwa Ajayi-Ade, said the government was willing to support firms with friendly policies and programmes to move the sector forward.
Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), his organisation would be promoting competitiveness among industries.
Ajayi-Kadir, who described the exhibition’s theme “Technological Innovation in Machinery, Processing, and Smart Packaging for Increased Quality and Throughput” as apt and timely, said innovation is vital to growth and development.
He said MAN would collaborate with business promoters to boost the potential of the private sector. “MAN is committed to ensuring that manufacturers in Africa fully utilise the opportunities provided in the AfCFTA to promote intra-African trade,” he added.
Organisers if the Propak WA, Afrocet Montgomery Regional Director George Pearson said the exhibition had grown since inception in 2017, adding that over 220 brands from over 40 countries were participating at this year’s event, which ends today.
He noted that Propak provides a veritable medium for companies to showcase their products, services and technologies.


text:
Oculus Quest 2 is already a popular headset but maybe an update can make the headset even more interesting, 120Hz would not be wrong.
Oculus are clearly the ones that are at the top with their headsets and with Oculus Quest 2 it is no exception. However, there have been a lot of rumors that Oculus is working on an update to the headset that will deliver 120 Hz, among other things.
Now, however, Oculus has confirmed that this is true and that a higher image update is underway for Oculus Quest 2. It remains to be seen which games will receive this update, but very soon developers of apps for Oculus Quest 2 will be able to take part in the higher the image update so we can probably expect updates soon to everyone who owns a headset.


text:
Search for “stop click fraud” on Google and you’ll end up with a slew of paid listings from vendors selling auditing software that claims to do just that. One of those firms promising to identify phony clicks, ClickForensics, has formed an organization comprised of advertisers and agencies who want to get a grip on the problem.
According to ClickForensics, it is participating in the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Click Measurement Working Group, and hopes its efforts help facilitate IAB measurement guidelines dealing specifically with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search advertising.
“It would have been nice to have the [IAB] initiative started earlier, but it’s good that it’s going now,” commented ClickForensics CEO Tom Cuthbert.
The new council will be moderated by recently-named ClickForensics Board Advisor Kevin Embree, and is set to meet quarterly. Embree was appointed to the position earlier this month, being charged with developing guidelines and standards in conjunction with the IAB initiative. Embree previously headed up eBay’s anti-phishing efforts.
“I’m disappointed that it’s taken this long to get search to the forefront [of IAB initiatives],” lamented Jason Clement, associate director of SEM at Carat Fusion, who will co-chair the new Click Quality Council. “It’s a great idea to get mostly advertisers and a few agencies in to start discussing [click fraud],” he suggested. He argued the importance of having input beyond the world of publishers, in order to “get the perspective of folks that are doing a lot of the buying.” The IAB’s members are mainly Web publishers.
“We feel a responsibility…to represent [advertisers’] thoughts and concerns in this process as standards are developed,” stressed Cuthbert. ClickForensics monitors ad campaigns for click fraud on behalf of more than 2,500 advertisers and agencies. In addition to providing “a place for candid feedback,” he said the council’s goal will be to help define click fraud, something that has yet to be accomplished in a way that’s accepted industry-wide.
“The fundamental issue is we don’t have industry-wide agreement on what is a click,” said Greg Jarboe, spokesperson for the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). “So the question is, if I click on an ad and I come back a few minutes later and I click on it again, is it click fraud [or an expression of interest]?”
Last December, SEMPO reported that three times the number of online advertisers and SEM firms said click fraud was a serious issue as compared to the year before. The group is now working with analytics firm Fair Isaac Corporation to assess the current state of click fraud and help arrive at a solution. Fair Isaac has a history of working with financial services clients to deal with credit card fraud.
Several factors have contributed to what some see as sluggish movement towards both defining and reducing click fraud. For one, some think search engines and publishers earning ad revenue from paid search ads have a stake in downplaying the scope of the problem. When Outsell claimed in July that advertisers have lost $800 million to fraudulent PPC search ads, it didn’t take long for Google to release a paper which singled out the research firm as hyping the issue, and stated, “to date, we have not yet discovered a single legitimate vulnerability as the result of a third-party click fraud auditing report.”
Carat’s Clement also suggested agencies and advertisers have not taken strong enough positions on click fraud, in part because they outsource search engine advertising to SEM firms.
Election 2016 is already like no presidential race before it, and one of the most striking aspects of this year’s race is the disparity ... read more
Can Snapchat make tech-enabled glasses cool? It’s going to try. Last week, it was revealed that the company behind the ascendant social app ... read more


text:
Posts Tagged ‘ Camaro ’
As the most potent road-going variant of Chevrolet’s second hottest car, the 2017 Camaro ZL1 has already won the praise and admiration of many a journalist. Thing is though, those guys judge a car by how fast it goes in straight line and how it handles round the bends. And that’s about it. If you […]
It’s a tradition in U.S. sports to gift cars to the top dogs in every field. It is a way both to boost the athlete’s confidence and inspire him for greater effort and for U.S. car makers to get their name out there. So when it was time to award the 2016 World Series Most […]
Chevy’s light treatment of Camaros for this year’s SEMA show continues with this, the rather handsome 2017 Camaro SS Slammer. This Dazzling Black version of the Camaro is designed as the ultimate street crawler with a road-hugging stance and unique styling accessories.
In addition to the AutoX Concept, Chevrolet is also bringing to the 2016 SEMA show a pair of highly accelerative Camaros. These drag specialists include the Camaro SS Drag Race Development Program and the new 2017 COPO Camaro, both of which are designed to pop in a insanely fast quarter-mile time.
Unlike Ford who has put together quite a display of custom Mustangs for this year’s SEMA show, Chevrolet seems pretty unenthusiastic about the whole thing. They waited till the very last days and have now unveiled the Camaro Turbo AutoX with a 2.0 liter four banger.
They spent countless hours tackling the Green Hell, but it looks like Chevy engineers finally have an official Nurburgring lap time for the 2017 Camaro ZL1 they are comfortable publicizing. The time is 7:29.60 which is, of course, pretty impressive, even though some say a car with 650 hp and many high tech systems such […]
After the success of their bespoke exhaust system for the 2016 Camaro SS V8, Borla has now announced the launch of similar setups for the entry-level 3.6L V6 and 2.0L Turbo models. As before, the system is available for all versions, including those with factory Dual Mode exhaust, and it results in a sweet soundtrack.
The high-performance variants of the Chevy Camaro have always been the best horsepower bargains in the market. That cannot be said of the new 2017 Camaro ZL1, since it starts at $62,135 for the coupe and $69,135 for the convertible. Mind you, no other car offers 650 horsepower for this kind of money.
You know how most people roll their eyes and murmur insults at the sheer stupidity of the thing when they see a donk’d car? Well, this is an answer to those people and it’s a middle finger presented in form of a Chameleon Camaro.
After successfully crapping all over the incredible Benghazi story with his 13 Hours flick, director Michael Bay has now gone back to an old project more suitable to his wits. He’s putting together yet another Transformers movie and he’s just revealed the movie’s main attraction, the new Bumblebee Camaro.
Make no mistake, compared with European sports car the Chevy Camaro is still a crude, unsophisticated and rather vulgar creature. But we’d be lying if we said we are not totally hot in the trouser area for the new 2017 Camaro ZL1. Just look at the damn thing go as it tackles the ‘Ring’s bends. It […]
We have something rather special here for the fans of American muscle here. Amid 1,458 horsepower, it’s a head to head fight between the stock Dodge Challenger Hellcat and the Hennessey Camaro SS HPE750. It’s like pitting the Marines against the Rangers!
One of the most highly anticipated American cars to be launched over the next couple of years is the new Camaro Z/28. A team of elite engineers and drivers are currently in Germany testing the muscle/sports car at the Nurburgring, and by the looks of things they still have ways to go before they can sign […]
By now you are probably familiar with the heavily customized, wide body Forgiato Corvettes, mainly because we have featured them here on MW on more than one occasion. Now let’s check out the latest Forgiato Camaro, an equally mad creation by the eccentric American firm.
A couple of days ago we showed you a rendering of the upcoming 2017 Camaro ZL1 Convertible and speculated on what the high-performance drop-top might be like. Well, the car’s now gone official at the New York Auto Show, and it is every bit as awesome as we were expecting it to be.


text:
The Film, Fine-Arts and Fashion Week, was scheduled to kick off today
The Film, Fine-Arts and Fashion Week, was scheduled to kick off today.
The Festival which is scheduled to take place from January 28th to 31st is anticipated to be a grand affair for 2014.
Coming out of this year’s festival the Ministry of Culture is hoping to have more of the nation’s students more involved in the Film, Fine-Arts and Fashion industries.
The theme for this year’s Film, Fine-Arts and Fashion Week will focus on the care of the earth and throughout the rest of the year their programs will reflect topic.
The festival kicked off in Bequia today and it will continue at different locations throughout the country tomorrow.


text:
Storage provider McData Corp., and Microsoft Corp. announced this week that they will open a solution center designed to let customers test higher data availability storage area networks (SANs) for the Windows 2000 operating system.
McData's announcement comes on the heals of IBM's recent announcement that 50 of its Business Partner Storage Area Network (SAN) Solution Centers would be open for e-business. IBM announced two months ago that this initiative was part of its $400 million effort to harness the service end of storage market. The solution centers, the first of more than 70 centers planned in 20 countries around the world, are designed to help customers deploy SAN solutions by providing a testing facility where customers can use real data to realize the benefits of linking storage products into networks. The centers also offer other SAN services that include testing, designing, education and training.
Both IBM and McData's announcements reflect a growing trend toward the formation of hardware and software solutions or testing centers within the storage industry.
Richard Lyford, senior product manager, McData, said that its solution center is much more focused than IBM's and centers around finding working solutions for Windows products.
"Customers will be able to deploy both Windows 2000 and SANs, creating a data infrastructure that will be robust and scalable enough to meet the demands of the most critical enterprise applications," said Lyford.
"The point is to insure that the products work together," said Lyford. "Until you get them all in the room singing, you don't know how they sound."
Lyford says the solution center benefits the administrator who has an e-mail system that keeps going down, for example. The administrator can implement and recreate his system under real working conditions and troubleshoot the problem, without having to bring down his company's entire working system.
"We can change it, test it and provide customer results," said Lyford.
The center is scheduled to open this month at both the Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) facility in Bellevue, Wash., and McData's System Integration Lab in Broomfield, Colo.
At each facility, customers can test highly available SANs with Microsoft and McData products, evaluating the capability of various configurations to meet their application platform requirements and performance goals. According to Lyford, this approach allows for a level of service that will expedite how quickly a business, whether a dot-com or traditional brick-and-mortar, can implement a SAN and ensure compatibility with Microsoft applications.


text:
Corsair announced the kick off of non-stop flights from Miami to Paris-Orly beginning June 2019. Miami is the first US destination where Corsair will begin operations, offering South Florida residents a competitive option when traveling to France for business or pleasure.
Flights to Paris departing from Miami International Airport are currently scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and starting in December of 2019, daily flights will be available. Travelers will arrive to Orly airport, located very close to town, and easily accessible via public transportation.
In cooperation with the SCNF, the French railways, Corsair will offer passengers the opportunity to continue with another leg of their trip to destinations like Bordeaux or Lyon. Via the train, passengers can schedule visits to 18 cities via the French bullet train, while booking their entire trip on the Corsair site.
The airline offers three types of service – business, premium economy, and economy – to satisfy the needs of every kind of traveler. Business class passengers are offered a special check-in process, expedited security and lounge access. Onboard, travelers will be provided an iPad, which can be used for in-flight entertainment along with noise cancelling Sennheiser earphones. Passengers can also enjoy catered meals, making it a smooth and enjoyable evening flight.
Corsair also offers the premium economy class, recently rated as the “best premium economy class in the world” by Flight Report for its spacious seating, catering and overall service.
France is a top worldwide destination, receiving over 90 million visitors per year. Around 50 million visitors go to Paris every year, and as a buzzing business destination, many South Florida residents travel to the country every year.
Corsair comes to offer a competitive alternative when booking a flight to Paris, while satisfying the need of all types of travelers. From those traveling for business looking for flexibility, to tourists or to the more than 40,000 expats who live in South Florida and go to France to visit family and friends, Corsair provides the right choice.


text:
“The disruption of the music business is taking place now faster than ever before. The industry’s revenue logic and business models are changing due to digitalization. With an annual growth of 25 %, independent artists are globally the fastest growing segment in the music industry, bound to exceed revenues amounting to one billion dollars this year”, explains the founder and CEO of the company, Juka Hynynen.
Hannu Nissinen, former managing director and founder of Klinik, a Finnish startup in the healthcare sector with global success, has been appointed as the chief operating officer of the fast-growing company. Petri Matero, previously the chief strategy officer of the advertising agency Miller & Lean, will start as the company’s chief commercial officer. Juha Hynynen continues as the chief financial officer, with a successful track record in various senior roles in tech and online gaming companies, e.g. Sulake Corporation.
Independent artists are globally the fastest growing segment in the music industry.
The company currently employs 16 people and engages known industry influencers as an advisory board as well as angel investors. Amongst them are, e.g., ex-Rovio & Angry Birds director Peter Vesterbacka, “Mr. Music Business Finland” and ex-CEO & chairman of Universal Music Finland Gugi Kokljuschkin, and ex-CEO of Teosto – Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society – Ms. Katri Sipilä.
Family in Music is creating a new ecosystem for the music business, the focus is to answer to the needs of DIY artists and other independent players within the industry. The service is subscription-based, and it utilizes artificial intelligence in order to offer support, for example, in music production, developing artist brand, building international networks and scouting relevant partners, and finding the right tools. In addition, it offers opportunities for commercial partnerships, financing services as well as an alternative channel to music distribution, among the fastest one out there.
“Sweden has acted as an influencer in new trends in the music industry already for several years. Out of all the artists in Sweden’s TOP 50 chart in Spotify, 44 % were DIY artists at the end of 2019. We believe this trend to be a global phenomenon in the future. Our goal is to develop the world’s most up-to-date digital service for the new generation of artists”, Hynynen continues.
Our digital platform enables us to offer everyone the music marketing that used to be only reachable for major label artists.
“I can foresee huge opportunities in the digitalization of the music industry and in offering virtual AI-based A&R services, similar to the ones between doctors and patients in my previous startup in the medical sector. The democratization enabled by new technologies offers better tools to a growing number of artists and other music professionals to develop and improve their personal earning models”, comments the company’s COO Hannu Nissinen.
“We are on a mission to serve DIY artists with the best marketing and communication tools available. Our digital platform enables us to offer everyone the music marketing that used to be only reachable for major label artists”, adds the CCO Petri Matero. "Our digital platform enables us to offer everyone the music marketing that used to be only reachable for major label artists”
“The earning models within the digital music business are quickly starting to resemble those of the online gaming industry. Subscription packages may easily be tailored to the specific needs of different user groups to maximize their added value”, notes Juha Hynynen, the company’s CFO.


text:
The travel industry always moves fast. But what a weekend we’ve just seen!
With overall demand for holidays beating pre-pandemic levels – combined with increased consumer desire for reassurance – it’s an ideal time for travel consultants.
- Sunday saw sales records smashed yet again, with people grabbing last-minute breaks (41% of recent bookings were for the end of this winter season).
- Suzy just got her business for nothing by beating the Money-Back Challenge.
- And franchisee Mark has just crossed the million-pound in travel sales milestone.
And going on holiday keeps getting easier…
- Core destinations like Spain and France have reduced testing requirements.
- Jet2 have ramped up their capacity for this summer in the Mediterranean islands.
- It’s now cheaper & easier for families to come home, with reduced testing and simplified passenger locator forms.
Yet, this feels like it’s just the beginning of the wave.
Have you noticed there are more and more family holiday ads on TV right now?
New research from ABTA shows almost two-thirds (64%) of families with children under 16, say the limited opportunities to travel due to the pandemic have made their holidays more important to them than before.
At the same time, families are increasingly keen to use a travel agent. People with children under 16 are 50% more likely to book with a travel professional now than before the pandemic. This is primarily for the security of a package holiday (43%), followed by guidance with travel requirements (35%).
You could be running your travel business as early as this spring
March induction training for new franchisees is running Monday 21st – Friday 25th and is down to the last places.
April & May training dates can now be publicly confirmed.
April: Monday 18th – Friday 22nd
May: Monday 16th – Friday 20th